Premier Tang Fei's (唐飛) offer to resign yesterday triggered mixed responses from legislators, as the debate continued over who should be held responsible for a tragedy on Saturday in which four workers died in Chiayi County's swollen Pachang Creek because of a delayed rescue effort.
The legislators, however, all agreed that it is urgent for the government to review its disaster rescue system.
The DPP insisted it was unnecessary for Tang or other Cabinet members to resign over the incident.
"We are impressed by [Tang's] attitude, but we believe political appointees are responsible for their policies, which means they must set up an efficient rescue system and procedure to demonstrate their accountability," said Lee Wen-chung (
Lee said the new government had only been in place two months, and it was therefore "forgivable" that it had not yet overhauled the disaster response system.
Lee said he could not accept KMT Chairman Lien Chan's (
"Lien Chan worked for the government for about 20 years. He should take much of the responsibility for failing to establish such a system," Lee said.
Lee's remarks immediately triggered strong reaction from his KMT colleagues, who said the DPP was trying to pass the buck in the matter.
"The new government has been in office for two months and is grasping for political resources, but [DPP legislators] are passing responsibility on to the old government," said Hong Yuh-chin (洪玉欽), a legislator and director of the KMT's Central Policy Committee.
Hong said this was not the first time the DPP had done so, pointing out that the DPP had also blamed the KMT when the stock index plummeted.
"Since the DPP is now the ruling party, it should take full responsibility," Hong said, adding that if anybody was to resign, it should be the minister of the interior or minister of national defense.
The People First Party said the new government should not force Tang to shoulder responsibility for the incident alone.
"We've only seen Tang Fei, who is from the old government, come out to accept responsibility. Where are all the other people recruited by Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) in the new government?" asked PFP caucus spokesman Liu Wen-hsiung (劉文雄).
Liu said the fact only Tang has stepped up reflected the structural flaws of Chen's so-called "people's government."
Liu said Tang would be better off leaving the government if his only function was to take blame on behalf of Chen's administration.
The New Party, meanwhile, insisted that not only should Chen should approve Tang's resignation and apologize to the people, but in addition, the interior minister and minister of national defense should also resign.
"Political appointees shouldn't tender their resignations for fun, and Chen should apologize to the people for not placing a high enough value on human life," said Lai Shyh-bao (
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