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Lee Teng-hui says Ma ‘incompetent’

Former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) yesterday accused President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) of incompetency, lashing out at his administration for failing to offer concrete measures to curb public apprehension over events such as the recent melamine contamination and the poor performance of the TAIEX.

Lee said that when the Democratic Progressive Party took power in 2000 it didn’t know how to govern Taiwan and the people had suffered as a consequence.

He then said that since Ma took office he had proved incompetent in everything he has done and again the people were suffering.

Lee made the remarks in a speech delivered at a world congress of The Friends of Lee Teng-hui Association Formosa held in Taipei yesterday.

Saying that the government should understand people’s safety is more important than anything, Lee said the government should condemn China and demand an apology since raw materials and products imported from China were found to have contained harmful levels of melamine.

Lee said Ma had not dared to condemn China and his silence had led to Taiwan being perceived in a negative light.

POOR PERFORMANCE

Noting the poor recent performance of the TAIEX, Lee went on to criticize Ma for neglecting the suffering of the public, saying the government appears at lost in dealing with the stock market slump.

“Taiwan is now faced with internal and external crises,” he said. “Under the leadership of the current government, Taiwan appears lost, like it is walking in fog and doesn’t know which way to go.”

Alluding to Ma’s definition of cross-strait relations made in an interview with the Mexican newspaper Sol de Mexico in August when he said that they were not between two countries, but a type of special relationship across the Taiwan Strait,” Lee accused the government of trying to do away with Taiwan’s sovereignty.

INTERNATIONAL ISSUE

Saying that the issue of Taiwan’s sovereignty was an international one, Lee said the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Chinese Community Party must not be allowed to decide among themselves on how Taiwan’s status should be changed in talks behind closed doors.

Lee also slammed former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁).

“Not long ago there came the news that a politician had wired money overseas,” Lee said, in an obvious reference to Chen’s money-laundering case.

“While it remains to be seen following the judicial investigation whether any irregularities have occurred, [the allegation] exposes how people can be corrupted in the middle of taking part in democratization and how some supporters can’t tell right from wrong but keep covering up [for politicians],” Lee said.

It is frightening when democratizers become corrupted and “love Taiwan” becomes a mere slogan, he said.

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