ed." Indeed, since Ma, the chairman of the Kuomintang (KMT), has always been considered a politician of unquestioned integrity, the fact that he has been formally charged with corruption by prosecutors stunned the whole nation, even though speculation to this effect was rampant for a while. Ma and his supporters are quick to point out that it is a political decision rather than a just, judicial judgment.
In fact, Ma was reportedly very indignant and felt particularly humiliated by the wording in the indictment describing his "deliberate" embezzlement behavior.
While many of the criticisms of the indictment are understandable and justified, on close examination of the document, one will realize that from the very beginning Ma's display of over-confidence about his innocence spelled his own doom, resulting in what a Chinese aphorism says, "A boat overturns in a sewer."
Recalling what happened in the investigation of the case would show that when the court first summoned Ma to testify, he went without being accompanied by lawyers, because he believed he is an intelligent and shrewd student of law and did nothing wrong and, therefore, could easily and single-handedly handle the questioning from prosecutors.
It was during the first and second interrogations that Ma asserted that the "special fund" is "public money" to be spent for public affairs.
However, later Ma changed his position, stressing that he thought the money "is part of his salary" as suggested by budgeting and auditing authorities, but the court brushed aside the later statement.
As a result, the prosecutors decided to indict Ma on graft charges on the grounds that he knowingly embezzled the "public fund" as his own income, which totaled over NT$10 million during his tenure as mayor of Taipei.
In indicting Ma, the prosecutors implemented the law to the letter.
In fact, Ma owes the nation an explanation of why he made conflicting statements in court, which may be considered perjury.
But, the way Ma handled the "special fund", including honestly reporting the balance in his income tax declaration indicated that he did believe or was led to believe it was "part of his income" to reward him and thousands of other administrators for their excessive work load.
One may be baffled to understand the reason why Ma, generally praised as a "gentle, kind-hearted, respectful, thrifty and modest" person, turns out to be not on good terms with many politicians, including those within his own party.
This may be because Ma, as many other politicians who are highly educated, intelligent and professionally successful and who claim to be clean and moral, is inclined to assume an air of aloofness and arrogance, consciously or unconsciously.
They may have ample reason to be self-confident and believe they are well above most of their peers, but their proud and superior manner often causes them to overlook what they should not and makes it difficult for them to befriend people.
Ma should strive to turn the current crisis into an opportunity by learning to be mellower and genuinely humble.
