As the old saying goes, "it's easier said than done."
Apologizing for an aide forging receipts to claim mayoral fund expenses, Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (
Both Ma and the Taipei City Government portrayed the event as a mere "administrative flaw."
The mayoral fund case shares a key similarity with the fracas over President Chen Shui-bian's (
The double standard is brazen. Ma called Chen's behavior "corruption" and demanded the president step down. When caught doing the same thing, he dismisses the case as administrative negligence.
Ma stressed that he had been "executing official duties according to the law" when the expenses were incurred and claimed. But just which law is Ma referring to that obliges government officials to forge receipts?
On several occasions Auditor-General Su Chen-ping (
But more appropriately, Su should be subjected to a formal inquiry to determine whether he attempted to cover up for Ma and whether he benefited illegally from the fund himself. There is sufficient prima facie evidence available to demand a probe -- at least as much evidence as was originally available when the pan-blues called for an investigation into Chen's use of the "state affairs fund."
On the legislative floor on Tuesday, a number of pan-blue legislators suggested that Premier Su Tseng-chang (
Now with Ma's integrity also in question, surely those same pan-blue legislators will follow their own advice and quit their jobs?
The timing of the Taipei City Government's press conference on Tuesday night also raised some eyebrows. The conference came just six hours after Ma was questioned by investigators from the Taipei High Court Anti-Corruption Center. Why did it take so long to own up?
While both the Taipei City Government and Ma yesterday laid blame on one of the mayor's aides for switching receipts, the question needs to be asked: How and why would a civil servant use a fake receipt without authorization from his superior?
Chen at least had the fortitude to openly admit that he authorized others to "switch receipts" to write off expenditure for his secret diplomacy.
The truth of the matter is that both the mayoral expense fund and the "state affairs fund" are indicative of an era when public money was usedwith impunity. The rules governing these funds are out of date in today's democratic environment.
But until the legal structures are fixed, let's hold Ma up to his own standards of morality: Mayor Ma, you were caught with your hand in the cookie jar. Maybe you should consider stepping down.
As strategic tensions escalate across the vast Indo-Pacific region, Taiwan has emerged as more than a potential flashpoint. It is the fulcrum upon which the credibility of the evolving American-led strategy of integrated deterrence now rests. How the US and regional powers like Japan respond to Taiwan’s defense, and how credible the deterrent against Chinese aggression proves to be, will profoundly shape the Indo-Pacific security architecture for years to come. A successful defense of Taiwan through strengthened deterrence in the Indo-Pacific would enhance the credibility of the US-led alliance system and underpin America’s global preeminence, while a failure of integrated deterrence would
The Executive Yuan recently revised a page of its Web site on ethnic groups in Taiwan, replacing the term “Han” (漢族) with “the rest of the population.” The page, which was updated on March 24, describes the composition of Taiwan’s registered households as indigenous (2.5 percent), foreign origin (1.2 percent) and the rest of the population (96.2 percent). The change was picked up by a social media user and amplified by local media, sparking heated discussion over the weekend. The pan-blue and pro-China camp called it a politically motivated desinicization attempt to obscure the Han Chinese ethnicity of most Taiwanese.
On Wednesday last week, the Rossiyskaya Gazeta published an article by Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) asserting the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) territorial claim over Taiwan effective 1945, predicated upon instruments such as the 1943 Cairo Declaration and the 1945 Potsdam Proclamation. The article further contended that this de jure and de facto status was subsequently reaffirmed by UN General Assembly Resolution 2758 of 1971. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs promptly issued a statement categorically repudiating these assertions. In addition to the reasons put forward by the ministry, I believe that China’s assertions are open to questions in international
The Legislative Yuan passed an amendment on Friday last week to add four national holidays and make Workers’ Day a national holiday for all sectors — a move referred to as “four plus one.” The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), who used their combined legislative majority to push the bill through its third reading, claim the holidays were chosen based on their inherent significance and social relevance. However, in passing the amendment, they have stuck to the traditional mindset of taking a holiday just for the sake of it, failing to make good use of
RSS