An inspection visit by TSU lawmakers to the Feitsui Reservoir (翡翠水庫) yesterday failed to yield any results because the lawmakers got into a war of words with KMT Taipei City councilors.
The TSU had aimed to investigate whether the Taipei City Government had mismanaged the reservoir, the city's main source of water.
The two sides traded barbs as the city councilors accused the TSU of deliberately picking on the city government and the lawmakers accused the councilors of over-protecting Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (
"If there are no flaws in Ma's administration, he shouldn't have any qualms when facing our questions. If we wrongly accused Ma, there was no need for him to mobilize the councilors to interfere with our inspection," said TSU lawmaker Chen Chien-ming (陳建銘).
The argument started when TSU lawmakers attempted to ask questions after a briefing by reservoir officials.
The city councilors interrupted the questions, saying "the lawmakers have the right to find out the truth, but they are not entitled to question reservoir officials because the reservoir should be overseen by the city government."
The councilors also expressed their dissatisfaction with what they called the overbearing attitude of the TSU lawmakers. They told reporters that any rational inspection of the site would be welcomed, but that they considered the TSU to be deliberately finding fault with Ma.
The TSU lawmakers refuted the councilors' accusations, saying they were simply fulfilling their duty by asking questions at the site.
The lawmakers were particularly upset with Taipei City Government spokesman Wu Yu-seng (吳育昇), who in his welcome remarks at the reservoir repeatedly criticized comments on the drought by former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) as being groundless.
On Friday the former president demanded that Ma take responsibility for mismanagement of water resources.
Lee's attacks on Ma have been interpreted as a concerted effort by the former president to damage the mayor's image and decrease his chances for re-election in the year-end mayoral race.
The TSU accused Ma of mobilizing the city councilors to go to the reservoir in a bid to quiet their criticism of Ma.
With Lee's backing, Ma won the mayoral election four years ago by beating President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), the DPP incumbent.
But relations between Lee and Ma turned sour after Lee was dismissed by the KMT in September last year.
The lawmakers plan to pay another visit to the reservoir today.
RSS