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Premier blames KMT for stunting Taiwan's growth

Taiwan's democracy hasn't matured because the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) still can't accept institutions like impartial courts and free elections, Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) said.

"They are not used to the transfer of power," Su, 59, said of the KMT, which ruled Taiwan for five decades.

The party lacks "sufficient maturity in democracy," and the result is a "chaos" that makes the island look bad, he said in a Monday interview.

Su, who hopes to win the Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP) presidential nomination for next year's election, said his party opposed dictatorship, championed democracy and defended Taiwan's sovereignty.

The KMT, however, might be poised for a comeback after narrowly losing the last two presidential elections, according to polls.

Former KMT chairman Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), the party's likely presidential candidate, won 53 percent of the votes in a poll conducted by TV station TVBS on Feb. 13, compared with Su's 16 percent. Ma has promised better relations with China.

"The first democratic election for president was in 1996 when we were in power," KMT spokesman Su Jun-pin (蘇俊賓) said, rejecting Su's charges. "It's DPP lawmakers who boycott meetings in the legislature where they are in the minority," he said.

Su declined to answer questions about his policy toward China if elected, saying it was inappropriate for a serving premier to discuss the issue.

"The biggest difference between KMT and DPP candidates is that we insist on Taiwan's identity. We will always emphasize Taiwan's sovereignty and national security in our cross-strait policy," Su said.

A year before the presidential election, neither party has picked its candidate. Su said the DPP's promotion of democracy will be its "bargaining chip" to win the election.

"When people overseas look at Taiwan, they feel it is very chaotic," he said, blaming the KMT for clinging to a dictatorial past in which it controlled the government, press and Taiwan's courts.

Su accused the KMT of hypocrisy over a series of recent corruption scandals. When first lady Wu Shu-jen (吳淑珍) was indicted on corruption charges last November -- prosecutors said they had enough evidence to charge Chen too, but a serving president is immune from prosecution -- the KMT demanded he resign.

"The president's wife has been indicted and the trial has been an open one," Su said. "We believe this case will be settled fairly by the judiciary."

Three months later, Ma was indicted on similar charges, after which he immediately announced he was running for president.

"This seems very confusing to Taiwan's people," Su said. "They can't accept it."

Within the DPP, Su is being challenged for the presidential nomination by three other political heavyweights: Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮), former premier Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) and DPP Chairman Yu Shyi-kun.

If the president can't negotiate a consensus candidate, the party will hold a primary that takes into account support within the party and the public at large.

The KMT is also trying to choose its presidential candidate. Ma is being challenged by Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平).

Su acknowledged that the DPP is behind in the polls.

"In both of the past two campaigns, polls had the DPP candidates losing, and losing by quite a bit," he said, but the party won both times.

"We hope to narrow the gap with our insistence on standing for Taiwan's identity, democratization and social equity and justice," he said.

Su said the KMT's promise of better relations with China if they win the election would probably not come through.

When asked in an interview with FTV last night whether he would withdraw from the presidential race as Yu and Hsieh have pledged to do if they are indicted over their usage of their special allowance funds, the premier said he would hold himself to the same standard.

Additional reporting by staff writer
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