Being a former world leader is no excuse not to grab a selfie with Singapore’s Merlion if you’re in town. Take it from former Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou, who did just that yesterday while here to promote his new book.
The ex-president’s photo-op with the beloved seaside icon came after a book-signing session for his Memoirs of My Eight-Year Presidency: 2008 to 2016 at the Singapore Book Fair at Capitol.
The selfie was posted to Ma’s personal Facebook account along with the caption “Singapore, I’m here!” and the hashtag #checkinginisnoteasy. The tongue-in-cheek post has since garnered over 34,000 likes.
The memoir the former Taiwanese leader is in town to tout details the achievements and mistakes of his eight-year run as president, and is based on his own oral accounts as related to Hsiao Hsu-tsen, the former deputy secretary of the Presidential Office during Ma’s administration.
The book also discusses his biggest regret during his presidency: the Sunflower movement of 2014, which saw the cross-strait service trade agreement being shelved, jeopardizing Taiwan’s economic development and resulting in massive protests in the island’s capital of Taipei.
Our Little Red Dot also makes a cameo thanks to the historic meeting between Ma and China’s Xi Jinping in Singapore back in 2015 — the first encounter between the leaders of both sides since 1945.
Ma’s not done playing tourist, however. Before he leaves Singapore tomorrow, the Shanghaiist is reporting that he will be making stops at the historic Sun Yat-sen Nanyang Memorial Hall and United Chinese Library. Solid choices, though probably not in the same selfie class with the Merlion.
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