Blue camp retreats in Hakka fight

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and People First Party (PFP) lawmakers gave up a plan to block 80 percent of the yearly budget for the Council for Hakka Affairs (CHA) yesterday, the last day of the legislative session.

The two parties withdrew the motion as dozens of Hakka protested against the planned move outside the legislature.

About 100 Hakka outside the legislature accused the blue camp of suppressing Hakka people while trying to win their votes.

KMT Chairman Lien Chan (連戰) claimed last week that his party endeavors to improve benefits for Hakka people.

Lien accused the DPP of suppressing the development of Hakka culture and the well-being of Hakka people.

He said an example of the DPP's anti-Hakka position was its decision to ask questions requiring knowledge of Hoklo, commonly referred to as Taiwanese, in a national exam rather than knowledge of Hakka.

political points

The demonstrators clashed with two PFP Hakka legislators, Chung Jung-chi (鍾榮吉) and Chung Hsiao-ho (鍾紹和).

The KMT and PFP proposed blocking the budget, charging that the DPP was using CHA funding to score political points.

"The KMT and PFP perceived that the Council for Hakka Affairs did not properly use its budget," the motion said.

The opposition parties had charged that some categories in the council budget benefited certain pro-DPP civic groups.

"The motion, which was raised by the PFP and KMT in the hope of avoiding abuse by the ruling party, was cancelled after we figured out that the CHA lacked the funds needed to operate and noticed that the DPP had made use of the motion for political purposes," Chung Jung-chi said at a press conference yesterday.

The PFP lawmakers, along with their counterparts from the KMT, said the DPP instigated the demonstration yesterday and vowed to request a Control Yuan investigation of CHA Chairwoman Yeh Chu-lan (葉菊蘭) to see if she had organized the event.

But DPP Hakka Legislator Lo Wen-chia (羅文嘉) blasted the opposition camp, accusing it of trying to deceive Hakka voters.

call for apology

Lo told Chung Jung-chi in the legislature that, "It is obvious that the KMT and PFP found that you had made a mistake by proposing the motion, otherwise you should stick to the motion as long as you believe the act is right."

"You really owe our Hakka countrymen an apology," Lo said.

Lawmakers decided yesterday that the CHA can use all of the NT$1.286 billion drafted in its budget this year.

The legislature may still block part of the budgets for the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Communications and Transportation, Council of Agriculture and Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA).

The ministries must report to the legislature in order to access their budget.

The legislature also voted to deny NT$1.83 million for the Cabinet spokesman's media relations budget.

infrastructure

A proposed NT$770 million budget for constructing an artificial lake for water conservation was also vetoed by the pan-blue controlled legislature at the last minute.

The Cabinet must submit a report to the legislature in one month about its spending plan for certain infrastructure projects included in the special NT$500 billion special budget.