By Ben Blanchard
TAIPEI (Reuters) - Members of Taiwan president-elect MaYing-jeou's family are shunning the limelight and trying to goabout their normal lives in spite of intense media interestafter Ma won the election by a landslide last weekend.
Ma's banking lawyer wife Christine Chow has continued totake the bus to work as she normally does, even with cameracrews from the island's feisty television stations followingher on board and taping her as she topped up her bus fare cardat a convenience store.
Major Taiwanese newspapers plastered on their front pagespictures of Chow getting on and off the bus with othercommuters.
"Ma's wife takes the bus -- stands listening to mp3", theChinese language United Daily News wrote on Tuesday in aheadline on its second page, most of which was devoted to Chow.
"Don't call me the president's wife, call me departmenthead Chow," the newspaper quoted her telling reporters whotrailed her onto the bus, referring to her current job title.
A campaign spokesman announced later on Tuesday that Chowwould stop taking the bus to work to avoid "inconveniencing"other passengers.
Chow had won plaudits during the election for herunwavering support of her husband, which included donningcampaign gear to meet and greet the electorate, grasping peoplewith both hands and doing a 90 degree bow to ask for theirvotes.
Ma's two daughters, who both live in the United States andreturned to Taiwan to support their father, have likewise beenfollowed everywhere by Taiwan's celebrity-obsessed media,including when checking in at the airport in New York.
Television stations breathlessly reported how they hadrefused special treatment from the airline, and would only say"thank you" in response to reporters' questions.
Ma has also been mobbed on his early morning jogs byadoring fans, asking him to sign autographs or wanting to havetheir pictures taken with him.
"Line up, or I'm not signing anything," the normallyaffable Ma told people crowding around him, in images broadcastrepeatedly on Taiwanese television, prompting political chatshows to wonder whether the pressure was getting to him.
One of Ma's election night promises was that he would run a"humble" administration, trying to avoid some of the problemsthat haunted current President Chen Shui-bian's time in office.
Chen's wife Wu Shu-chen has been charged with corruption,although the president's office has denied the charges, and hisson-in-law was last year convicted of insider trading.
But there is also one other member of Ma's family who hasattracted media interest, an adopted stray dog whose nametranslates to "Little Ma".
"He's quite shy, and always gets very nervous aroundcameras," according to Taiwan news portal ETtoday.
