Print

Mail

wiki links

Money politics stifles rebuilding

By Chuang Chi-ting
STAFF REPORTER
Thursday, Sep 21, 2000, Page 8

Soldiers help repair trellises damaged during last month's typhoon in Puli, Nantou Counry. PHOTO: CHIANG YING-YING, TAIPEI TIMES

With six family members squeezed into two bedrooms, the 4m2 temporary housing unit where Chen Chin-shao (陳金繡) lives is cluttered with toys, milk bottles and chair cushions removed to make the seats cooler in the blistering summer heat. Clean jackets hanging beside a table with dirty dishcloths piled up underneath amply illustrate the lack of room in this house, where ventilation is almost non-existent. The only window in the living room is tightly shut to guard against rain water seeping in.

The family, trying to survive on NT$2,000 a day, has been waiting for a promised government mortgage. In the absence of any money, they have gone ahead anyway and built a rickety abode with a light steel frame and thin wooden boards, which would surely buckle in the face of any natural disaster, like a typhoon, flood or landslide.

"We are desperate. Yet without money we cannot convince the bank of our ability to repay the debt. We have nothing," Chen said. Despite the government's policy of providing low-interest mortgages for quake victims, many victims have complained that their applications for mortgages keep being rejected by potential lenders because they are unable to provide the requisite guarantees.

Life continues for this farmer in Nantou County, one year after the devastating quake. PHOTO: CHEN CHENG-CHANG, TAIPEI TIMES

Both the new DPP government and the old KMT administration vowed to speed up earthquake reconstruction by making the relevant regulations more flexible and proclaiming a number of emergency measures for relief in the most urgent of cases.

Although one year has passed since the devastating tremor struck the country, few victims feel that the passage of time has made any difference to their plight, and feel stranded in a recovery process that appears to be going nowhere.

It's impossible to see his [Chen's] face for his entourage and the crowds of reporters surrounding him, much less to say anything to him. - Chen Pan Shen-chi, a Niuwei Community villager

No help from the government

Many people in agricultural townships and remote areas of central Taiwan have mocked the promises of help the government has made. "We haven't benefited from the efforts of either government since last year," they complain. Many in Puli township (埔里鎮), Nantou County (南投縣), one of the areas most badly affected by the quake, still make do with squalid housing with crude wooden or steel frames covered by plastic tops or steel sheets, struggling to survive in the summer heat that makes their homes like ovens and, of late, violent typhoons that tear them apart.

"Taiwan's reconstruction is all about politics," complained Hsieh Chi-chung (謝志誠), executive director of the 921 Earthquake Reconstruction Foundation (EDRF, 九二一震災重建基金會), complaining that any move the government or politicians make is politicized by those who stand to gain in the reconstruction effort instead of going towards helping victims.

In late August, President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) visited the Niuwei Community (牛尾社區) of Puli and expressed his concern for villagers after local media reported that typhoon Bilis had flooded and ripped apart the make shift housing there.

Yet villager Chen Pan Shen-chi (陳潘順齊) felt her miserable existence had not been improved one iota by Chen's expressions of sympathy. "He's here only to see whether our roofs have really been blown away by the typhoon. It's impossible to see his face for his entourage and the crowds of reporters surrounding him, much less to say anything to him," she said. "They gathered us in a smarter room for Mr President to peer at us."

The old woman, sporting galoshes to keep her feet dry after a torrential downpour saturated the temporary housing, said that no officials had ever been there until the county commissioner turned up with NT$10,000 for each household immediately before the president's visit.

"I'm not surprised that a raft of political concerns is dragging out the overall reconstruction effort. This is just how things work in Taiwan, from central government down to local government," Hsieh Chi-chung said.

Hsieh's remarks epitomize the views of many victims about why they still cannot extricate themselves from their straitened circumstances a whole year after the quake.

According to the Executive Yuan's 921 Earthquake Reconstruction Committee (行政院九二一震災災後重建推動委員會), the government agency directing reconstruction efforts, only 2,000 households out of 60,000 requiring new housing have had their applications for mortgages accepted by banks.

No demarcation of roles

A major obstacle to effective reconstruction throughout has been the absence of a clear and transparent demarcation of roles between central and local government agencies involved in the work. This has prevented victims and NGOs from always knowing which agency is responsible for what. It has also caused a lot of waste.

Both the Nantou County Government and the Council of Agriculture (農委會), for example, had designed regeneration plans for agricultural towns, wasting by their duplication of tasks some of the very limited resources available for the nation's reconstruction.

"It is obvious that different layers of the government would compete to handle projects that are easily do-able in order to outshine others in the eyes of the public," said Wang Chun-kai (王俊凱), executive secretary of the foundation. "As it's always difficult to find out whether there is an agency responsible, or how many agencies there are responsible, many NGOs hesitate to fund reconstruction programs to avoid expenditure on matters that are already being looked after," Wang added.

The duplication of responsibility by government agencies can be traced back to the immediate aftermath of the quake. "The KMT government wanted full control of reconstruction efforts as a means of demonstrating its prowess and in doing so hoped to garner votes in the presidential election which was only months away," said Wang.

KMT scam

Hsieh points out that in order to guarantee local support for the party in the election, the KMT central government would promise money directly to township mayors instead of complying with regular procedures and having the county government first review all township budgets.

"It is understandable that the county commissioner would have to grant the budget for projects the township mayors have promised to local residents. The former wouldn't want to lose votes in any future election either," Hsieh said.

"Recalling TV scenes when former president Lee Teng-hui [李登輝] visited the afflicted areas, it would always be township mayors instead of county commissioners accompanying him," said Chun Shao-nung (張邵農), a social worker participating in the reconstruction efforts.

Meanwhile, a survey conducted by the National Alliance for Post-earthquake Reconstruction (全國民間災後重建聯盟) in May revealed that the public believes central government has a better relationship with township halls than county governments.

Nantou County can be singled out for its poor post-quake reconstruction efforts and the bad relationship that exists between the county government and county council.

Hsieh said that as Nantou County Council is controlled by the KMT, the "ritualized" confrontation of the council with Peng Pai-hsien (彭百顯), a former DPP member, had made the two sides quarrel instead of cooperating on the urgent task at hand.

Hsieh also revealed that as Peng mobilized victims of the quake to humiliate Chung Wen-tung (鄭文銅), deputy speaker of Nantou County Council, who was involved in construction projects of buildings that collapsed, Chung took his revenge on Peng by attacking Peng's policies and having him recalled. "The battle has only delayed reconstruction," said Hsieh.

Peng may have to find a way out of his predicament. As the election for county commissioner is next year, some have begun to ask questions why only 40 percent of public reconstruction projects have been contracted out so far, saying that the county government has held many projects up to favor specific groups in order to gain support in the election.

Huang Jung-tsung (黃榮村), executive director of the 921 Earthquake Reconstruction Committee, admitted it is possible that the rumors are true. Hsieh also pointed out that such suspicions makes sense, especially right before an election.

Similar aspersions were also cast on where 30 percent of donations from the public, now in the hands of local governments -- including townships -- have gone and how it has been used.

According to victims and NGOs, the other reason why reconstruction had been progressing at such a slow pace was that the former KMT government had pushed rebuilding efforts aside to focus on the presidential election.

"It's obvious, as reconstruction stopped some months before the election," said Yang Kuen-hsin (楊崑欣), the chief of Chungming village (中明村) in Nantou.

The Reconstruction Committee was originally based in Nantou and had representatives of several government agencies from Taipei seconded to it. Its authority, however, was undermined last year when in December most officials returned to their offices in Taipei.

A source in the Reconstruction Committee has alleged that the KMT government withdrew the team as "KMT votes won't increase no matter how much the government invests in these areas."

Although the new government moved the Reconstruction Committee back to Nantou in June, it has been criticized for continually beating about the bush and not getting on with the job at hand. As a number of the committee staff originally worked for the Taiwan Provincial Government, which was downsized last year, whether they are willing to respect and follow Huang is a problem. "As supporters of James Soong [宋楚瑜], the leader of the People First Party and former Taiwan provincial governor, whether they will give their all under the leadership of a DPP administration, is still uncertain," Wang said.
This story has been viewed 2444 times.