Premier threatens Ma with libel suit

Premier Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) yesterday said that he will file a libel suit against Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) because the Taipei mayor had ignored his complaint about a newspaper advertisement run by the KMT.

"I talked to him last night [Monday night] and asked him to withdraw the advertisement and apologize. However, nothing happened and the advertisement is still there this morning. So I decided to file the suit against him," Hsieh said.

He made his remarks on the legislative floor yesterday afternoon while answering questions from People First Party Legislator Lu Hsueh-chang (呂學璋).

The ad appeared in two major Chinese-language newspapers on Monday. It shows a NT$1,000 bill, with the words "Financial groups are ruling the country" and "Vulture Bank" on it, along with head shots of Hsieh, President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), former Presidential Office deputy secretary-general Chen Che-nan (陳哲男) and former Kaohsiung Rapid Transit Corp vice chairman Chen Min-hsien (陳敏賢).

Above the bill are the words "They love banknotes, but we have ballots," implying the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government loves money more than anything else.

Chen Min-hsien and Chen Che-nan are the chief suspects in a corruption scandal involving contracts for the Kaohsiung's rapid transit railway project.

The premier said that he first saw the ad on Monday. He said he was very surprised and upset by it and he decided to call Ma that night.

During the conversation, which lasted for less than a minute, Hsieh said Ma had told him that he had no idea what the premier was complaining about because he had not seen the ad, but that he would try to figure out what was going on. Hsieh said he asked Ma to apologize and to pull the ad.

Hsieh said he told Ma, "I hope that a libel suit against the KMT chairman by the premier will not happen."

He said he had heard nothing from Ma yesterday and the ad had appeared in the paper again.

"He [Ma] told me that he had no idea what was going on so I gave him time to figure it out. That KMT advertisement is 100 percent libel," Hsieh said.

When asked by reporters yesterday about the premier's complaint, Ma said he respected it.

"I understand his feelings and the pressure he is under. But I really have not yet had a chance to understand what is going on here," Ma said.

KMT Spokeswoman Chen Li-wen (鄭麗文) said the ad appeared in an evening newspaper again yesterday because Hsieh's phone call to Ma came too late.

She said the KMT will run a new version of the ad today.

"We hope to make the premier happy," Cheng said.

She said that in the new version Hsieh's face on the NT$1,000 bill will be replaced with a photo or DPP Chairman Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) and the caption will read, "Excuse me Mr. Premier, are you happy with this now?"

"Actually, we came up with four versions of the advertisement during our earlier meetings. We can make new arrangements any time, whenever necessary," she said.