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Lee lambastes Mayor Ma over typhoon

Former president Lee Teng-hui spoke out at a Taiwan Solidarity Union event yesterday about the recent flooding in Taipei City and criticized Taipei City Mayor Ma Ying-jeou's performance in handling the situation. ``This is the problem with mayors in Taiwan,`` Lee said. ``Some politicians are all talk and no action.'' PHOTO: CHANG JUI-CHEN, TAIPEI TIMES

Former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) yesterday accused Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) of being all talk and no action as he lashed out at the city's relief efforts in the wake of Typhoon Nari.

While never naming Ma specifically, Lee's comments appeared to point directly to the Taipei City mayor.

"There are some people who can only do things with their mouths, just as in the recent disaster brought by Typhoon Nari," Lee said during a Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) campaign event in central Taiwan.

"Separated from Taipei only by a river, Sanchung City in Taipei County was perfectly safe from floods while Taipei City was seriously flooded. Why?" Lee asked the crowd of a few hundred supporters.

"I say the answer is simple, and [whoever] has or has not worked hard enough is obvious.

"This is the problem with mayors in Taiwan," Lee added. "Some politicians are all talk and no action."

Campaigning for the TSU, Lee was attending the opening of TSU candidates' campaign headquarters in both Changhua and Chiayi counties.

The former president for the first time directly commented on the KMT's Sept. 21 decision to revoke his party membership. He called the decision "the least of my concerns."

Lee also asserted that he would continue his endeavors to ensure that "Taiwan First" would be the cornerstone of government policy in the coming decade.

"After the KMT expelled me, many reporters were interested in my reaction," Lee said in Changhua County. "Frankly, I don't care, because it doesn't matter whether I am a member of a political party."

Lee stressed that his concerns, as "a citizen of the Republic of China, Taiwan," are of far greater importance than mere party allegiances, and that he is obliged to consider the future of the whole country.

Lee, 78, who was Taiwan's president and chairman of the KMT from 1988 to 2000, reaffirmed that since he had held the highest of offices, his last wish is to follow his "sense of mission" to help the country return to its "correct direction" of democracy and localization.

"Now that my heart disease has been brought under control, I believe I can live at least ten more years," he said, "and I should therefore devote the rest of my life -- with which I have been fortunate enough to be blessed -- to the country instead of enjoying life by sitting in the garden at home, which certain members of the media always suggest."

Lee again condemned the Legislative Yuan as being the key source of the political instability that has followed President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) inauguration last May. Lee blamed opposition politicians for deliberately obstructing the DPP government.

"The president is elected by all the people and every citizen should treat him with the respect due to such a figure," Lee said. "When the country faces a critical moment, such as the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the US, people should unite to support the president and to meet the challenge," he said. "But our politicians just want to drag the DPP government down at any opportunity."

Lee added that the people of Taiwan had become "a bowl of sand," a situation created by irrational political struggles and vicious obstructionism.

"The founding of the TSU is the beginning of the process of turning all that sand into solid cement," Lee said.
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