Lien accuses DPP of `green terror'
KMT Chairman Lien Chan (
The search was conducted on suspicions that a cooking class co-organized by the KMT's Chuchi township branch and an associated local women's group was a scheme to buy votes.
"The government has turned Taiwanese society into something very horrible," Lien said when visiting the party's legislative candidates in Taipei County. "This is what Taiwan's democracy has come to."
Lien said the activity organized by the women's group was routine and was intended to promote community ties among local women.
Lien also said that the right of civil groups to assemble is threatened under the DPP's rule.
"In order to avoid getting into trouble, civil groups now have to submit name lists and the materials they use to authorities whenever they hold an activity," Lien said.
The KMT has traditionally obtained at least 15 percent of its vote support from vote-buying.
Also yesterday, the KMT launched another TV commercial that emphasizes the growing unemployment problem. According to the ad, "the unemployment rate has grown by one-and-a-half-fold in the one and a half years of the DPP's rule."
The commercial features a father and son taking part in a test given to prospective street cleaners -- a job opportunity that has become very competitive as the pool of unemployed people grows.
In the test, would-be applicants are required to carry a 20kg sandbag on their shoulders. The father, however, falls down in the middle of the race, and because the son stops to go over to help him up, both fail the test as a result.
On their way home, the father laments, "The country is going backwards. Of course people can't find a way to make a living."
KMT spokesman Wang Chih-kang (王志剛) said the DPP must not turn a blind eye to the problem of unemployment because it is becoming increasingly severe.
Wang said that when the advertising agency was shooting the campaign commercial, many people thought that the recruitment test was real and expressed an interest in participating.
Opposition blasts plan for stipends
Opposition politicians yesterday criticized the Executive Yuan's plan to issue monthly stipends for the elderly as yet another example of "policy vote-buying."
They insisted that the plan should be carried out by legislation instead of an executive order.
The Executive Yuan has earmarked NT$1.6 billion for the program in its proposed budget for the next fiscal year. It, however, is not prepared to send a bill to the legislature for approval, but has decided to implement the plan with an executive order. The move would prevent the opposition, especially the KMT, from making changes to the program.
The KMT has put forth a bill that sets looser restrictions on the eligibility of beneficiaries, which would end up costing the government NT$5 billion annually.
Lee Cheng-chong (
Lee said restrictions set in the Executive Yuan's proposal are "unjustifiable," because, according to the promise made by President Chen Shui-bian (
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