Recall? You would have to be out of your mind to truly believe that the KMT-led opposition is serious about recalling President Chen shui-bian
The DPP has maintained a consistent anti-nuclear stance. Otherwise, it might have had to change the green color in its party flag. So long as the administration honors the contracts for compensation with all parties concerned, the credibility of the DPP government will not be damaged. The political wave in favor of recall will therefore soon subside if the KMT holds on to the nuclear plant issue alone.
People in Taiwan are disgusted with the KMT's corrupt nature and that is exactly the reason why the it was driven out of office just five months ago. So, the other opposition parties, which are willing to gang up with the KMT this time, are all doing so for political motives of their own, the most obvious one being anti-Taiwan independence. They aren't falling into the KMT's arms simply because of the KMT's stand on the nuclear plant issue.
Again, the anti-independence issue is hardly a cause for recalling the state president, because voters have known and tolerated what Chen stands for on this particular issue. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to secure 39 percent of the vote last March, with the president of the Acade-mia Sinica, Lee Yuan-tseh (李遠哲), and several renowned business groups endorsing him. In fact, there are no causes for the opposition camp to recall the president other than economic hardship.
Over the past few days the KMT has tried very hard to link Taiwan's economic prosperity with the scrapped power plant. The effort is understandable but the reasoning is completely misplaced.
How can KMT legislators be asking the government to shut down the three operating nuclear power plants earlier than sched-uled and offer such an arrangement in exchange for government approval to build a new nuclear power plant? "Why would anyone kill three sons for the sake of giving birth to a new daughter?" asks one Taiwanese man interviewed on the street for TV.
In other words, if nuclear power plants hold the key to Taiwan's energy supply, which in turn has a tremendous bearing on the island's economic future, then what are the reasons for scrapping the three existing plants, which have larger total electricity production capacity than the one earmarked to replace them?
It is thus clear that the dependency of the economy on the new power plant is minimal. Yet, why are KMT legislators so persistent about the recall issue right now? Ironically, the fact that the supposedly collapsed KMT Legislative Yuan caucus is even functioning once more is not due to the KMT's own efforts, but Chen's determined reform policy.
Since the DPP took over the reins of government, Chen has pledged to end all favors formerly delivered by the Executive Yuan to individual legislators each year. Speaker of the Legislative Yuan, Wang Jin-pyng
Such funds might have been well-intentioned at the outset. They turned into a major source of corruption however. Shady practices such as favoritism, kickbacks or other illegal manipulations were common in the old days and the quality of the public buildings, parks or even roads was often compromised. Under the KMT administration the funds became political chips for under-the-table bargaining between the premier's office and KMT legislators. They became a source of political strife among legislators and a means of concealing dubious government practices, whether political favors were satisfied or not.
Chen's decision to remove the fund once and for all is courageous. Nevertheless, it will certainly invite bitter criticism and even political revenge from a large number of legislators, since a fat chunk of their incomes, which ran to billions of NT dollars per year, has been plugged.
On top of that, factors such as the falling stock market and the evaporation of most-favored bank loans, which KMT legislators used to enjoy from government-controlled banks, are all placing greater pressure on many legislators' finances. As one source close to the Legislative Yuan has indicated, quite a few legislators are in deep financial trouble. They will have to force the new government to release the local construction funds soon. Otherwise, quite a number of them won't be able to survive until next year's election.
It is this grim and desperate situation that is helping the KMT to lure the disillusioned legislators back into its legislative caucus. Needing the KMT in order to weather their financial difficulties and to raise campaign funds for next year, they are forced to rally behind the caucus and legislators. In the meantime, they are anticipating an early legislative election, to be held alongside the presidential election, once the recall act is passed and the DPP is bound to call for Cabinet resignations in order to dissolve the Legislative Yuan.
Several of the KMT legislators are confident the party machine will provide them with ample financial resources to help them defend their seats. As soon as the political fog has passed therefore, what's left is the issue of money! All those lofty ideas, such as defending government credibility or guarding long-term economic development and business inter-ests, are just a load of rubbish.
Yet, the real issue of releasing the local construction funds is testing Chen's political wisdom right now. Should he release the funds, all his reform efforts will have gone down the drain in no time. Perhaps he would rather choose to confront the vital question of the recall with a genuine fighting spirit and call the KMT-led opposition camp's bluff.
Derek Lee is a senior journalist.
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