Taipei City Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (
However, it was a gesture that upset some city councilors even more.
"I apologize to the city's residents for causing council meeting delays," Ma said.
Following a demand reached by consensus over the weekend by council members, Ma yesterday was asked at a council meeting to apologize and give a thorough explanation for his absence from an April 12 meeting.
They demanded he make the apology before delivering a report detailing, among other things, his handling of recent protests outside the KMT's headquarters.
KMT supporters gathered outside the building on March 18, almost as soon as the election result showed the KMT's defeat, demanding that Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) step down as party chairman.
Ma appeared at the scene and sang patriotic songs with the crowd during the demonstration, which, according to the law, should not have been allowed to continue.
He was also due yesterday to discuss the city's new garbage collection fee program and policy toward high school entrance examinations after their abolishment.
Ma explained that his absence on April 12 was necessary to complete his report, so that it would "meet the high expectations of the council."
He also requested that in the future, if such reports were not urgently needed, the council should allow more time for their preparation.
Even so, many councilors said they were still "dissatisfied" with the explanation and questioned the sincerity of his apology.
The disagreement between the mayor and the council began on April 11, when it notified Ma to present a report the following morning.
Ma failed to show up at the April 12 council meeting, but reportedly phoned to say he would be able to make it later in the afternoon. His written report on the protest incident was not delivered to the council until the following evening.
Ma's absence, in addition to what councilors said was a marked similarity between Ma's report and the police report police issued on April 6, led to fierce criticism in the council.
Eventually, Ma's spokesman. King Pu-tsung (金浦聰), was forced to hold a press conference on April 12 in an attempt to clear things up.
King said Ma made two phone calls to the council speaker, Wu Pi-chu (
King's remarks prompted Wu to accuse the city government of "lying" and "framing" her, claiming Ma had not contacted her at all.
As for why his report so closely resembled that of the police, Ma blamed city staff for being "careless about the packaging of the report," adding it had in fact been edited four times by him personally, extending it to 31 pages from the original 27.
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