Academia Sinica President Wong Chi-huey (翁啟惠) has come under fire after questions were raised over his endorsement of an OBI Pharma Inc product, despite it having failed a blind trial. Suspicions deepened on revelations that Wong’s daughter, Wong Yuh-shioh (翁郁琇), is a major shareholder in the company.
The pan-blue camp immediately smelled blood, linking the revelations with a previous controversy involving president-elect Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), attempting to manufacture another “Yu Chang” (宇昌) case.
This demonstrates the ugly side of Taiwanese politics. Certain sections of the media and pan-blue politicians would have known about this for some time, and yet chose to sit on the information until such time as the individual involved is overseas and is unable to return and give a clear account of his actions.
They then release the information and milk it for all it is worth, with many members of the public then persuaded by the blanket coverage given the story that the allegations are true. It matters little that OBI Pharma chairman Michael Chang (張念慈) has said that Wong Yuh-shioh’s ownership of the company’s shares is perfectly legitimate. The damage to Wong’s integrity and Tsai’s reputation has already been done.
Wong and Chang were at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology together. In 1998 they, and several others, founded the firm Optimer. Wong later returned to Taiwan and joined Academia Sinica. In 2002, Chang also returned and set up OBI Pharma, a subsidiary of Optimer.
It is not unreasonable that Wong Yuh-shioh should hold a number of that company’s shares. Think, for example, of the family of Chang Yung-fa (張榮發), the founder of Evergreen Group, or the children of Formosa Plastics Group founder Wang Yung-ching (王永慶).
Taiwan’s biotech industry was fortunate enough to have a group of high-flying academics achieve results through their own hard work, bringing new technologies that could drive Taiwan’s future economic growth. Then, these academics are thrust into the shady world of politics and they become little more than collateral damage, while the nation’s economic growth can be damned.
Tsai said during a meeting with business leaders that any future Ministry of Education officials under her administration would have to be able to communicate with industry and understand how business leaders think. One figure stood out in particular — National Taiwan University vice president Chen Liang-gee (陳良基), who has been involved in almost 100 different instances of technology transfers and has helped two start-ups list on the stock exchange.
Chen has been earmarked for education minister in Tsai’s Cabinet. One can predict that the minute he takes the post, the pan-blue camp will attempt to tar him with accusations that he only involved himself with technology transfers for his own personal gain, or that of his relatives, and accuse him of championing big business.
Had his academic achievement not been so impressive, or if he were not so well-connected in industry, he would not have caught the eye of Tsai and premier-designate Lin Chuan (林全). It was for these reasons that Wong was chosen for the top spot at the Academia Sinica, but that is politics for you.
The public should not allow themselves to be fooled by the media. The truth will come out in time and all this will be revealed as the murky machinations of the pan-blue camp.
If we let our guard down, it will be the nation’s highest academic research institution and the future of our economy that are sacrificed, jeopardizing our ability as a nation to continue along the path of freedom, democracy and human rights.
Huang Rongwen is a professor at National Changhua University of Education.
Translated by Paul Cooper
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