The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday that President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) must take full responsibility for his missteps in dealing with Typhoon Morakot and should immediately launch a Cabinet reshuffle in order to improve relief efforts.
“We can tell he offered a sincere apology but we are not sure what he apologized for,” said DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), referring to a press conference Ma held yesterday afternoon.
Tsai said the two-hour press conference with local and foreign journalists failed to restore public confidence and did not map out a concrete plan for the ongoing relief work.
‘MALFUNCTION’
The biggest problem of the administration in the past week, she said, is a “leadership and command system malfunction,” adding that unless a new team is named right away, the same problems will reoccur.
“At the moment, the plan to recall or to topple the Cabinet initiated by the DPP is not the most effective option. The best solution is for this president to immediately reshuffle the Cabinet,” Tsai told reporters.
She added that the DPP did not mind if the government waited until early next month — the timetable set out by Ma — to issue demerits to responsible officials, but stressed that a Cabinet reshuffle must happen right away.
The DPP does not rule out working with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) in pressuring Ma to restructure his Cabinet now that the KMT might have its own political considerations, she said.
KMT CRITICISM
Lawmakers from the KMT also called for a major Cabinet reshuffle.
KMT Legislator Lo Shu-lei (羅淑蕾) said Central Emergency Operations Center Commander Mao Chi-kuo (毛治國) and chiefs of the National Fire Agency, the Ministry of National Defense, the Water Resources Agency and the Council of Agriculture should all be replaced.
Lo urged Ma to choose People First Party Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) to be the next premier, saying that Soong’s experience as former Taiwan governor made him the best candidate to assume premiership.
Lin Huo-wang (林火旺), national advisor to President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), also suggested Ma reshuffle the Cabinet because of its poor performance in the rescue operation.
Lin made the remarks after he described the Cabinet as a “cold-blooded government” on TVBS’ political talk show, 2100 Public Talk, on Monday night.
“On the night of August 11, Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄) went to have his hair dyed,” Lin said on the show. “Dyeing hair is a time-consuming job. [Liu] was also seen talking cheerfully on phone ... People were dying. If this government feels numb to that, Mr Ma will have to take responsibility for not replacing [the premier], who is not the right person for the job.”
Lin said Executive Yuan Secretary-General Hsueh Hsiang-chuan (薛香川) had dinner at the five-star Howard Hotel on Aug. 9.
He also said that when Minister of the Interior Liao Liou-yi (廖了以) asked Vice Premier Paul Chiu (邱正雄) on Aug. 9 over the phone whether the army should be mobilized, Chiu asked Liao: Is the situation that serious?”
“If [Ma] continues to let these officials keep their positions, he is committing a sin,” Lin said.
Hsueh called in to the show and rebutted the allegations. He first denied he went to the hotel on Aug. 9, and when Lin repeatedly asked him when he had gone to the hotel, Hsueh said: “It was on Aug. 8.”
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