Cabinet Spokesman Lin Chia-lung (
"His accusation seriously tarnished my personal image and [that] of the government," Lin said. "I didn't interpret his words out of context as he alleged because I was just telling the truth."
Lin, however, said that he would not ask Ma to apologize.
PHOTO: SEAN CHAO, TAIPEI TIMES
"Apologizing is not the key. The key is whether the public knows about the truth," Lin said. "I'll have no choice but to take legal action for the sake of the government's accountability if the erroneous accusations continue."
Ma compared the referendum plan to the Cultural Revolution during a Cabinet meeting on Wednesday, according to Lin.
"Some China-based Taiwanese businesspeople have mentioned to me that they didn't know the Cultural Revolution was still going on until they came back here," Lin quoted Ma as saying.
Criticizing Lin as "interpreting his words out of context" and "putting words in his mouth," Ma held press conferences and went on TV later on Wednesday to clarify his statement. Ma also called on Lin to make public the heated debate among government officials during Wednesday's Cabinet meeting.
As well as playing an audio tape of part of the meeting, Lin provided printed copies of the debate to the media during a press conference held yesterday morning.
"I'll leave the public and the media to decide whether I put words in his mouth and interpret his words out of context," Lin said.
As a government spokesperson, Lin said his job is to convey government information to the public.
"My job is not to interpret the words of any government official or judge their personal behavior," Lin said. "I believe the media, the fourth estate, can easily find out whether Ma actually made such a statement."
Lin said he hesitated to respond to Ma's accusations because he wanted to verify the facts.
"Because he is such a popular politician, we've been very careful in quoting him because we'd really hate to let the public think that we're trying to attack him and cause conflicts between the central and local governments," Lin said.
In response, Ma yesterday said that Lin should make public the 30-minute recording of the debate instead of just the 20-second recording of his words.
"The portion of the conversation not only failed to reflect the whole truth of the matter but also was not the focal point of my argument," Ma said.
The point of his argument, Ma said, was that legislation was needed to hold referendums and that a consultative referendum was illegal and unconstitutional.
"Holding referendums is not like China's Cultural Revolution, but when a government does something illegal and unconstitutional, it is," he said.
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