On the evening of March 10, Taiwan media and opposition lawmakers went from one media frenzy straight into another: Whereas in the days before there had been no issue of interest other than the fate of Taiwan's nearly-completed No.4 nuclear power plant, it was suddenly all about model-turned-banker Allen Tsai.

This was because it had trickled through that this stunningly good-looking Taiwanese-born, American-raised dark horse somehow managed to marry Taiwan leader Ma Ying-jeou's eldest daughter, Lesley Ma, in a secret ceremony last year.

Given the Taiwanese media's celebrity and political focus, pulling off this covert operation was no mean feat.

Photographs of Tsai's six-pack were quickly splashed all over the news, of course. And, with the same lightning speed the gossip mills started spinning, Ma's domestic political opponents launched their volleys of reproaches.

Tsai must have dodged compulsory military service in Taiwan, they reasoned, and his current job at a financial institution in Hong Kong would allow him to improperly exploit his connection to Taiwan's first family.

They also said the young couple's choice to reside in Hong Kong is a grave threat to Taiwan's security, and that the family of Ma's predecessor, Chen Shui-bian, was not granted the right to live in privacy, either. 

After it quickly emerged that Tsai is classified as "overseas Taiwanese," who are exempt from the draft as long as they do not reside continuously in Taiwan, a Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislator had no better idea than demanding that Tsai serve anyway because "his service would be a big boost to the military's morale."

I could not verify whether the DPP lawmaker in question has a son-in-law residing overseas and if he has, whether that young man has settled all his scores with the Taiwan military recruitment office. But it is hard to imagine that the attempt to gain political capital by calling for such a disproportional sacrifice of Tsai will pay off.

Similarly dragged in by the hair is the notion that the couple must not live in Hong Kong. Cross-Straits relations are at a high point at present, and it is beyond imagination that Ma's son-in-law could end up becoming a modern version of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, whose untimely end at the hands of Serb assassins during his stint in Sarajevo in 1914 sparked World War I.

Granted, the couple could still be targeted by gangster triads, but this could happen anywhere, and the Taiwan authorities could cooperate with Hong Kong police just as they do with the FBI.

Last but not least, there is the argument that when Chen Shui-bian's son, Chen Chih-chung, married in 2005, and the couple wished to reside in the US, then-opposition Kuomintang lawmakers furiously demanded that they return to Taiwan so their first child could be born on the island. 

And by the time the Chen family was really dragged into the limelight in 2009, with Chen's daughter Chen Hsing-yu severely harassed by Taiwanese reporters on the streets of Manhattan, all family members bar her had been implicated in charges of money-laundering making the individuals' right for privacy legitimately taking a backseat.

But there is no indication whatsoever of wrongdoings on the part of Tsai. He and his wife should thus have all the right in the world to be left alone. After he graduated from Harvard University, he worked for Deutsche Bank in Hong Kong with focus on the Hong Kong real estate market. Then came a stint as a model in the US, before the couple eventually moved back to China's special administrative region.

If he now complies with the demands of Taiwan's opposition lawmakers and quits his banking job in Hong Kong, what should he do to make a living? Certain PR managers in Taipei have since whispered to the Taiwan media that Tsai could easily make $168,000 with photo shoots and even more if he was willing to attend parties with celebrities in Taiwan. And who knows, he could possibly also survive on his father-in-law's special allowance budget.

Is this what opposition lawmakers want? If not, they should leave the young man alone and give him a chance to earn his money honestly.

The author is a Taipei-based freelance journalist. opinion@globaltimes.com.cn