Editorial: Ma should take a look at himself

China Steel Corp (中鋼) chairman Lin Wen-yuan (林文淵) officially stepped down yesterday and donated his approximately NT$44 million (US$1.3 million) bonus to local charity groups. Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) commented that Lin's bonus was legal but unreasonable and inappropriate. He added that the public felt the bonus payment was unfair and complained that Lin's actions had come too late.

Some legislators made the accusation that Lin's bonus was proof that the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) was stealing money from taxpayers. They completely ignored the fact that the money was put in trust and was not donated to the DPP. Their criticism is absolutely groundless.

Indeed, Lin's massive annual stock bonus was shocking. But the terms under which it was awarded were established under the KMT regime, and the phenomenon also exists in other state-controlled enterprises. His huge bonus was also a result of the fact that, with his help, the company made monthly profits of as much as NT$5 billion. Unfortunately, he was forced to step down simply because of his excellent performance. No wonder the company's employees all stood up to save their boss. Notably, the media also regarded Lin's forced resignation as unfair and suggested that certain lawmakers may have been engaging in a vendetta in bringing about his downfall.

Under circumstances, we would like to ask both Ma and the blue-camp lawmakers: If you think that Lin's bonus was unreasonable and inappropriate, how will you face the issue of the KMT's stolen assets? Ma listed the handling of the party's assets as one of his priorities when running for the chairmanship earlier this year. He even repeatedly vowed that once elected, he would deal with these assets, which had in part cost the KMT its position as ruling party, and return them to the nation.

Since Ma's election as KMT chairman, he seems to have forgotten about his promise to deal with the party-assets problem. This has been made perfectly clear from the deal that the KMT has signed with a local hypermarket group for the sale of land currently being used by the Institute on Policy Research and Development in Mucha. In legal terms, the land belongs to the KMT, but although the legality of the acquisition of this land has not been clarified, the newly elected chairman is in a huge rush to dispose of the land, in total disregard of his electoral promises. Are the ethical standards of Mayor Ma different from those of Chairman Ma? Why should this be the case?

Moreover, the institute's land is zoned for governmental use and under the law it clearly cannot be sold. So, if Ma does actually sell off this land, he will be acting in violation of the law, and these actions will be seen by many as being unreasonable and inappropriate. Indeed, his actions are worse than those of Lin. Will "Mayor" Ma not feel ashamed of "Chairman" Ma for breaking his political promises?

In his television interview on Sunday night, President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) suggested that "Chairman" Ma was trying to hoodwink "Mayor" Ma by selling off land valued at over NT$10 billion for just NT$4 billion, in an effort to collect funds for the end-of-year city and county elections. Ma has even requested that the city government change the zoning designation of the site to facilitate the sale.

Ma consistently use accusations of corruption within the DPP and suggestions that Chen is seeking to divert attention from problems within his own party to ward off such accusations. Ma must shoulder his responsibilities as both Taipei mayor and KMT chairman and call a press conference to respond formally to Chen's accusations, rather than use his skills at diverting attention to avoid questions by the media.