The two main candidates in next month's Taipei mayoral election clashed over public order, traffic ticketing and localization in their second televised debate yesterday.
After fielding questions from a panel of journalists and an academic, DPP candidate Lee Ying-yuan (李應元) and Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) of the KMT questioned each other about their policies.
Against the backdrop of the killing of KMT Taipei City Councilor Chen Chin-chi (
Chen was shot four times in front of a Shihlin restaurant at lunchtime on Saturday.
At the beginning of the debate, Ma apologized to the Taipei public for Chen's slaying.
Condemning the murder, Lee accused Ma of failing to keep order in the city.
"The murder is another example of Taipei City's deteriorating public order under Ma's mayoral tenure," Lee said.
Lee questioned Ma's record in controlling the city's police force and cracking down on such things as Ecstasy use following scandals involving police corruption. Lee said violent crime had increase by 20 percent since Ma took office.
Ma responded that Taipei City had less crime than the nation's other four major cities.
In yesterday's debate, Lee also kept on the offensive over garbage bags, restating his pledge to halve the price of the bags if he is elected.
Ma was quick to reject Lee's proposal, saying he would not change the price of trash bags as it includes not just the trash bags but also the cost of processing the trash.
"[The present price of the trash bags] is an ideal tool to help reduce the amount of waste the city produces as well as to increase the recycling rate," Ma said.
When asked by panel member Rick Chu (
Ma replied that though he did not object to the idea, some names should be kept for historical reasons.
The two candidates were at odds, however, over plans for Taipei's Sungshan Airport, with Ma accusing Lee of presenting proposals that are not feasible.
"No matter how I work out the math, I don't see how is it possible that, as Lee claims, it would take only 24 minutes for people to travel between Taipei and CKS International Airport, where Lee proposes relocating Sungshan Airport," Ma said, adding that based on his own estimation, it would take at least one hour to cover the distance.
Lee said that the difference in calculations was a result of using different points of reference.
"I am right in my statistics if Ma were to start the calculation from the same point," Lee said.
He said that once the high-speed rail link is completed, it would take only about 10 minutes to travel from Taipei to Taoyuan.
The debate then moved on to the number of traffic tickets issued in Taipei, with Lee accusing Ma's administration of using the law to generate money for city coffers.
Lee said the 4.8 million tickets written in the past year was a record and earned the administration about NT$4.4 billion.
Ma said that the strict enforcement of traffic laws was the best way to reduce the number of people breaking the law.
Both candidates said afterward they were happy with their performances in the debate, with Ma telling a press conference that everything had gone according to plan. The Lee camp said its candidate's performance had exceeded expectations.
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