Lee said to not like Tzeng

A well-known scholar has alleged that Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) has criticized the minister of education for failing to implement reform and for not being sufficiently pro-Taiwanese, but a spokesman for the former president said he had heard nothing of the sort.

Su Jing-chang (蘇進強), who is also spokesman for the Taiwan Solidarity Union, said yesterday that he had not heard Lee criticize any Cabinet member.

Lee was quoted by Chen I-shen (陳儀深), a scholar at Academia Sinica and spokesman of the Northern Taiwan Society (北社), as saying that Minister of Education Ovid Tzeng (曾志朗) should be replaced for his failures in educational reform and for his reluctance to push for the Taiwanization of the nation's textbooks.

Chen told the Taipei Times that Lee made the remarks at a meeting with members of the Northern Taiwan Society, Central Taiwan Society (中社), Eastern Taiwan Society (東社), Southern Taiwan Society (南社) and the Taiwan Association of University Professors (台教會).

Chen said that members from those groups visited Lee at his Tamsui residence on Dec. 21 to exchange opinions on Taiwan's political situation after the DPP's victory in the Dec.1 elections.

"In fact, Tzeng was just part of our discussion on Taiwan's political situation. And, for the past six months, we [the Northern Taiwan Society and Lee] have always shared the opinion that Tzeng has not done a good job on education reform," Chen said.

"I think President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) should take this seriously into account ahead of the Cabinet reshuffle, as he has raised the slogan [that he wants] a `combative Cabinet.' Now people are asking what the Cabinet should be combative for," Chen said.

A key member of the Southern Taiwan Society who was present on the same occasion but refused to be identified, said yesterday that Lee had made the alleged remarks.

"For a long time we [the Southern Taiwan Society] have been upset that President Chen promoted a Chinese Cabinet member like Tzeng in his government," the member said.

"What we mean by `Chinese' is being mentally pro-China, without Taiwanese national identity, although Tzeng is from Neimen township (內門鄉) in Kaohsiung county," he said.

Tzeng was also accused by pro-independence groups of being reluctant to strengthen Taiwan awareness in the nation's textbooks, which are still regarded as being largely pro-China.

Su said he was not aware the meeting had taken place. He did say that Lee is not involved in Cabinet personnel issues for "he knows very well that he has retired and what he should and should not say.

"But we all know his position on the Taiwanization of the textbooks," Su said.