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Public opposition to chairman Ma

President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) probably never thought that recent opinion polls would show that most respondents do not support him doubling as chairman of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT); or that the majority would feel that reforming the KMT — notably returning the party’s ill-gotten assets to the public — is more important than setting up a meeting between Ma and his Chinese counterpart, Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) or nominating individuals with no links to “black gold” politics for the year-end mayoral and county commissioner elections.

During Ma’s stint as party chairman, huge disputes surrounded the sale of the KMT’s Central Motion Pictures Corp (CMPC, 中影公司), the Broadcasting Corporation of China (BCC, 中國廣播公司) and China Television Co (CTV, 中視).

For example, Jungli Investment Co (榮麗投資公司), a member of the China Times Group (中時集團), paid NT$4 billion (US$121.7 million) for CMPC, the BCC and the CTV, whose aggregate market value were estimated at more than NT$15 billion. CMPC was then sold to Kuo Tai-chiang (郭台強). The BCC’s frequencies were sold to former KMT legislator and New Party founder Jaw Shaw-kong (趙少康) and its real estate holdings were sold back to the KMT’s Central Investment Co (中央投資公司). Then last year the China Times Group sold the China Times and CTV to Want Want Group (旺旺集團), while the CMPC and the BCC where handed over to a trustee by the KMT-run Hua Hsia Investment Holding Co (華夏投資公司).

However, what really happened was the KMT and its Central Investment Co helped find another buyer for the CMPC and the BCC. The sale of CMPC to Lor Yu-chen (羅玉珍) and Jhuang Wan Yun (莊婉均) in 2006 then resulted in a dispute with both sides trading accusations.

Late last year, Jaw, who is in charge of the BCC, submitted an application to the National Communications Commission (NCC) to split the company in two — the BCC and a resource management company responsible for managing billions of NT dollars in land assets. The NCC rejected the application, saying the information submitted was incomplete.

KMT assets, including the land where the National Development and Research Institute, the Provincial Party Headquarters and Chunghua Hospital once stood, and the CMPC, BCC and CTV lots were sold for more than NT$10 billion. However, in January 2006, the year after these assets were sold, the KMT claimed it had spent all the money and could not even pay party workers’ year-end-bonuses.

Early this month, a local magazine reported that the KMT had lost NT$6 billion when it sold CMPC to Kuo and his wife at a very low price. The Central Investment Co insisted, however, that the KMT had not been cheated and, in fact, made money from the deal. The messy dealings of the sale of CMPC, BCC and CTV were not transparent and details on where the huge sums of money made from these asset transactions ended up have been carefully concealed.

Although the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) filed a lawsuit demanding the KMT return its ill-gotten wealth, prosecutors have not made any progress in their investigation. After Ma assumed office, an official Web site on its ill-gotten party assets was immediately closed and a set of guidelines for party and party organizations and their procurement and handling of national assets were removed from all government Web sites. Ma’s poor attitude in handling the party assets issue defies belief.

The ongoing internal conflict at CMPC and between the KMT and the China Times Group, which has even brought the KMT to court, are proof that the inside story about the KMT’s assets is not straightforward. After all this trickery, nobody will believe the KMT when it says it has liquidated all party assets.

If and when Ma takes over as chairman, he must act promptly to provide the public with an explanation on the disposal of party assets.



Lu I-ming is the former publisher and president of Taiwan Shin Sheng Daily News.

TRANSLATED BY DREW CAMERON
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