Farmers' associations have long been considered one of Taiwan's major roots of political corruption, but yesterday lawmakers took the first step toward snuffing the problem out.
A set of amendments to the Farmers' Association Law (農會法) were passed in the Legislative Yuan yesterday which will impose tough restrictions in the associations' elections and prevent gangsters and individuals with criminal backgrounds from gaining power and controlling the associations.
According to the amendments, convicted racketeers released from prison within the last five years as well as people convicted of corruption or crimes under the Organized Crime Prevention Act (組織犯罪防制條例) will be prohibited from running for the position of a representative, board member, or supervisor, or become the executive general of an association.
The ban also applies to people convicted of sedition or treason. Others who cannot run are those who have been jailed for crimes including vote-buying, accepting bribes, embezzlement, fraud, forgery and/or breach of trust.
People facing imprisonment for criminal convictions other than those mentioned above cannot run until they complete serving their sentences.
In addition, someone who has had a non-performing loan for over one year at a financial institution or has served as a guarantor for a loan that has been overdue for over one year at a farmers' association will be prohibited from running for the position of a board member or supervisor or becoming the executive general of an association.
The amendments are a crucial step toward reforming farmers' associations, whose credit departments have often become the private treasuries of gangsters and politicians who control the associations, lawmakers said.
"There is a public perception that the credit departments of farmers' associations are the origin of `black gold.' The public is anxiously expecting the government to make some reforms to solve this problem," said People First Party Legislator Chung Shao-ho (鍾紹和), one of the lawmakers who took part in the inter-party negotiations over the amendments.
Although the Executive Yuan submitted the amendments to the Legislative Yuan as early as September, lawmakers were not able to iron out their differences over the changes until December.
The Executive Yuan's original proposal was even tougher than the final amendments passed by the legislature.
The KMT, which feared the changes would undermine the party's support at the local level, had preferred relaxing the restrictions. Many of the grassroots organizations are controlled by local KMT factions and are seen as a crucial part of the party's election and vote-buying apparatus.
The KMT had originally intended to have the amendments implemented on Jan. 1, 2002 so that they would not apply to the upcoming farmers' association elections in February. The KMT eventually conceded on the date under pressure from other political parties which are more supportive of immediate reforms.
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