Support for Lien Chan comes in many ways

Chen Chien-chih (陳健治), director of KMT presidential candidate Lien Chan's (連戰) Taipei campaign office, and Chen Chin-hsiang (陳錦祥), secretary-general of the KMT's Taipei City Council caucus, have been lambasting some city officials with no party affiliation for not "showing up on stage" to back the Lien-Siew ticket.

Those attacked include Lung Ying-tai (龍應台) and Cheng Tsun-chi (鄭村祺), directors of the city's cultural and labor affairs bureaus, respectively. They were accused of failing to prove their "membership in Mayor Ma Ying-jeou's (馬英九) administrative team."

Is this kind of accusation fair? The principles of party politics indeed provide the KMT with adequate reasons to demand that Ma's city administration take a stance and help the party in the run-up to the March 18 election. After all, Ma won the mayoral election under the KMT's banner and Ma's administration is not a coalition. Any measure by Ma's team represents the KMT's performance in governing the capital. Therefore, this kind of accusation is not a random shooting spree.

But standing on stage for the party's candidate is not the only way for a KMT head of government to show his support. Much less so for officials who are not party members. Equating "standing on stage" with "membership in Ma's administrative team" was perhaps a result of an over-emphasis on the "loyalty" of government officials and a narrow interpretation of their responsibilities.

City government spokesperson King Pu-tsung's (金溥聰) words explain what impact an actual stage appearance by Lung and others will have.

Lung was a vocal criticic of President Lee Teng-hui's (李登輝) historical views, while Cheng challenged the KMT's labor policies.

Given their backgrounds, their stage appearances will only generate a negative response and questions such as, "Are they the same Lung Ying-tai and Cheng Tsun-chi we used to know?"

Ma himself has said that he will not press Lung or others to appear on stage for him when he seeks re-election. Ostensibly, it looks like an example of Ma's generosity.

In fact, this is exactly where Ma's cleverness lies, because it is likely that Lung and others will voluntarily go out and campaign for him.

Ho Jung-hsing is chief of the city desk at the Liberty Times.