Academics urge action on KMT assets

Academics yesterday said the KMT should put forth answers to deal with public doubts over the legitimacy of its huge assets, which are expected to become a hot issue during the year-end legislative elections.

The academics offered the suggestion in a seminar held by the National Policy Foundation, a KMT think tank.

Kuo Yu-ying (郭昱瑩), an assistant professor of public and policy management at the Shih Hsin University (世新大學), said the issue had been widely discussed in the 2000 presidential election. But questions concerning the legitimacy and total worth of the assets, as well as when the KMT will stop running commercial businesses and put the funds into a trust, remain unresolved.

"This issue will be hotly debated in the year-end elections and will strongly influence the campaign," Kuo said.

Some DPP lawmakers have recently proposed that authorities conduct a thorough investigation of the KMT's assets, saying this would draw attention to the issue leading up to the year-end elections.

While the DPP is studying the feasibility of this proposal, President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) expressed his support for the idea in a meeting with DPP lawmakers last week. KMT Chairman Lien Chan (連戰) has maintained that the KMT legally owns of all its assets and called the DPP's move slanderous.

Kuo felt the issue needed further evaluation.

In addition to pushing for the enactment of a law to regulate the assets of political parties, the KMT should try to determine the worth of assets left by the Japanese colonial government at the end of World War II, Kuo said.

Critics argue that these assets should belong to the government, rather than the KMT.

Kuo proposed the KMT return the assets to the national coffers or even donate them to charity.

"This will moderate public criticism against the legitimacy of the assets and help the KMT create a positive image for itself," Kuo said.

While the KMT should take the initiative to make public the worth of its assets, it should reaffirm its resolve and offer an exact timetable to put the assets into a trust, Kuo added.

Agreeing with Kuo, Yu Chi-lik (余致力), director of the Department of Public and Policy Management at Shih Hsin University, said the KMT should not attempt to deny irregularities about the origin of its assets.

"Strategically speaking, it would create a big problem to say that there are no discrepancies surrounding the assets," Yu said.