The leader of a group of worshippers of the goddess Matsu (
Instead of conceding, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) officials urged pilgrims to be patient as the government has no timetable for opening of direct links.
"It's imperative under the circumstances for worshippers to embark on the journey even if pilgrims have to stop at a third country before reaching China," said Yen Ching-piao (
PHOTO: CHENG HUNG-YU, LIBERTY TIMES
"Otherwise it would be disrespectful to Matsu," Yen said, adding that he would not do anything that violated existing regulations.
Yen, the Taichung County speaker and a former KMT member, with close ties to the PFP and suspected ties to organized crime, made his comments yesterday at a press conference sponsored by PFP legislator Chin Huei-chu (秦慧珠).
Yen also refuted charges that followers of Matsu had been pressuring the government to approve the so-called "religious direct links."
"Followers of Matsu in Taichung have expressed enthusiasm for the scheduled trip, so it's not true to say that we have tried to make use of deities to pressure or threaten the government," Yen said.
However, Yen said he would leave for Hong Kong to choose ships for the scheduled journey yesterday. And it's believed that Yen will also travel to China to meet with Chinese officials in a move to pressure officials at home, local media reported.
Yen has become increasingly vocal since June 4, when he threw prophetic divining blocks and claimed that the goddess Matsu had indicated July 16 was an ideal day for worshippers to embark on the first direct sea pilgrimage to Meizhou Temple (
The temple has submitted a request for the trip to the MAC, proposing to travel from Taichung via Kinmen or Penghu to Matsu's legendary birthplace of Meizhou Island, a move critics see as a direct challenge to the government's ban on direct links with China.
Yen then blasted central government officials claiming they were "contradicting themselves", and that he felt he had been "cheated."
Yen said the MAC chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (
Yen also criticized President Chen Shui-bian (
Responding to Yen's claims, Fu Don-cheng (
"The one month deadline was proposed by some KMT lawmakers, and what Tsai said was that the MAC would complete the report as soon as possible," Fu said.
"The MAC has no timetable regarding the completion of the evaluation report, nor has it any idea about when the religious direct links might take effect," Fu added.
While Yen urged the MAC to be "magnanimous (
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