TAICHUNG (Taiwan News) — Foxconn founder Terry Gou (???) introduced well-known singer and actress Tammy Darshana Lai (???) as his vice presidential candidate on Thursday (Sep. 14), but within hours she was mired in controversy, much of it related to her past.
Lai most recently starred as President Lin Yue-zheng (???) in the hit Netflix show “Wave Makers,” a TV drama credited with sparking the #MeToo movement in Taiwan. The very same day as Gou’s announcement, the nominees for the 2023 Golden Bell Awards were revealed, with Lai receiving a best supporting actress nomination in the miniseries/TV movie category for her role in “Wave Makers.”
She was indeed a compelling character in the show, which became a big topic of discussion. Others were excited that she is the mother of Aggie Hsieh (???) and mother-in-law to Sonia Sui (??), both of whom are stars in their own right.
In introducing herself to the public, Lai came across as confident, yet warm, witty, and engaging. She praised Gou and said she would give the campaign her all.
Tammy Lai’s unusual past
Reports on Lai’s early history appear to be sourced from old interviews and comments she made on variety shows.
The 60-year-old, according to a report in Storm Media, was born to an American father and a Taiwanese mother. Her father served in the United States military, which was stationed in Taiwan at the time, then went off to Vietnam to fight in the war.
After that, he “evaporated.” The report mentioned Lai trying to find her biological father “in the American South” when she was 20, but discovered he had a new family. Her mother eventually married an American engineer, and when Lai was “17 or 18,” she moved to the U.S. and obtained American citizenship, though it is unclear how much time she spent there.
Another report in Next Apple uncovered an old clip of Lai appearing on stage with legendary comic and variety show host Chu Ke-liang (???), where she said that her paternal grandfather was German, her paternal grandmother was American, and her maternal grandmother was Japanese. When asked about her identity, she said she was from Taiwan, “so I am Chinese.”
Judging by her hairstyle, makeup, youth, and giant padded shoulders, it looks like the clip is from the 1980s, so we can not assume anything about her self-identity from her saying she was Chinese then. They had to say that at the time.
If everything goes according to plan with Gou and Lai, and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) candidate Lai Ching-te (???) picks Taiwan’s Representative to the United States Hsiao Bi-khim (???) as his running mate, as many are speculating, that would mean two mixed race vice presidential candidates. Hsiao’s mother was also American.
No foreigners
One of the first big controversies to break was Tammy Lai’s American citizenship. By law, she cannot run for vice president while holding a foreign passport.
This could be a huge problem for the Gou campaign. Lai has to complete the process of renouncing her American citizenship before November 24 or be disqualified.
According to the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT), renouncing U.S. citizenship includes an application procedure in Taiwan with a fee of US$2,350 (NT$75,000), followed by a Department of State review lasting between three and six months. AIT noted it did not have the ability to expedite the renunciation application.
There have been some cases mentioned in the press where the process was done in only two months, so it is possible that Lai could squeak in under the wire.
Lacking the backing of a major political party, to qualify to run, the Gou-Lai ticket needs to collect 290,000 qualified “signatures” (in practice, they are forms requiring more information, including identification numbers) by November 2. I have not been able to find definitive statements on whether replacing Lai at the last minute would disqualify the signature drive, but generally knowing how laws work in Taiwan, it is doubtful this would be allowed because the forms specify Lai on the ticket, and that is what people had been signing off on.
This means it is possible she could end up knocking him out of the race. Gou, however, says he is “99.99%” certain she will complete the process in time.
Perhaps Gou has some connections. It is an interesting wrinkle that the U.S. State Department could play a direct role in this presidential election, by choosing to expedite this…or not.
String of controversies
Another controversy that quickly appeared was people mocking Lai for being known as a performer. Others came to her defense, pointing out that other performer-politicians include Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Ronald Reagan, Yu Tian (??), and Freddy Lim (???).
It also quickly came to light that Lai had previously joined a group of celebrities in singing an anti-nuclear song, and Gou is a strong proponent of nuclear power. Gou’s spokesperson responded by saying the performers had good intentions at the time, but that society had changed and “that former mistaken stance has changed, because we found out that those anti-nuclear groups deceived (us).”
Much criticism and accusations stem from her credentials and her uses of them. Predictably, her certification as a qualified hypnotist raised some eyebrows and sarcastic remarks.
Lai has a professional qualification in hypnotherapy from the U.S. National Guild of Hypnotists (NGH) and has published therapy books such as “The Power of Changing Your Mind” and the magazine Charming, which combines advice for personal and spiritual growth with fashion.
She is also credited as being the translator of the book “The Game of Life and How to Play It” into Chinese. However, the person credited with being the “producer and guide” on the cover of the Chinese version of the book said on Facebook that her translation was terrible and nearly everything had to be redone and took aim at the credibility this translation had given Lai in the health and wellness community.
It is hard to confirm or deny these claims, but the post was clearly angry and had a long list of political grievances with Terry Gou. The tone came across like someone with an axe to grind.
Practicing without a license?
One political pundit filed a complaint with the Taipei Department of Health pointing out that Lai’s official website “Dr Lai Pei-hsia” lists “mental consultant” under her experience. Additionally, questions were asked whether Lai had been providing psychotherapy or counseling without a license, as she offered 80-minute one-on-one sessions for NT$23,000 and other workshops about mental health, also at relatively high prices, and used psychotherapy terms to describe the services.
Lai defended herself by describing herself as a “coach,” claiming to have passed tests in China on “psychological counseling” and “corporate training,” and what she was doing in Taiwan was geared towards corporate events and high net-worth individuals and teaching leadership, among other things. The Taipei Department of Health said its initial assessment found that there was no direct evidence that Lai had contravened the Psychologists Act, but was still determining whether Lai’s website was misleading.
Two other issues were raised about her credentials. It was quickly pointed out that she was not a graduate of the Harvard Kennedy School Executive Education program.
She said that she had not claimed to be, just that she had attended classes there. I had noticed no degree was claimed from there when first reading the list, but it is not hard to see how many people came away with that impression.
Also on her list are a master’s degree in international relations and a Ph.D. in law from China’s Jinan University. Several people familiar with the university questioned if these are real.
Lai swears they are, but concedes that the bureaucratic process in China for getting the documentary proof is time-consuming and unlikely to be completed until January, which is something one of her detractors also pointed out.
Help or hindrance?
These are a surprising number of controversies to appear in such a short time. Most appeared the same day as Lai’s announcement as the vice presidential candidate or into the next day.
If she and the Gou campaign are hurt by them, it may be more by the negative impression of so many at once than because of the substance. For the most part, she appears to be guilty of a bit of resume spin and personal hype more than outright lying, which is often par for the course in both the performing arts and politics.
She gave a good impression of introducing herself. She could have been acting, but the impression I got was that she was genuine, but polished up a bit using her professional talent, which is valuable in politics.
If she can do a good job handling policy questions and keep her cool with an aggressive press, she may add some value to the Gou campaign. Regardless of how it goes, she was definitely an interesting pick.
