Although the DPP and KMT are not scheduled to officially nominate their candidates for the year-end Taipei mayoral election until June 25 and 26 respectively, Cabinet Secretary-General Lee Ying-yuan (
While Ma has been attacking the central government, Lee has been increasing his media exposure.
Yesterday, for example, Lee rushed between five activities, starting at 11am.
After a one-hour interview with the News Square program at the China Television System (華視), he attended the National Taichung First Senior High School (台中一中) alumni lunch party at 12:30pm.
At 6pm he went to the annual meeting of the Harvard University alumni, and then gave a brief speech at the handover ceremony of the chairman of the Taipei Rotary Club at 7pm.
He then had only 30 minutes to freshen up before he gave another speech at the handover ceremony before going to the the first anniversary celebrations of the pro-independence Northern Taiwan Society (
Ma, on the other hand, has been trying to persuade the public that the central government has been giving him a hard time.
On Wednesday, Ma asked the Cabinet to compensate workers at the city's car washes and spas for their loss of work resulting from the water-rationing imposed on Taipei.
He argued that the government had compensated farmers who had been ordered to leave their fields fallow during a drought in central Taiwan in March and that the Taipei workers should get the same treatment.
Citing the Disaster Prevention Law, Kuo Yao-chi (
The central government will only intervene or offer further assistance when the region is declared a national disaster area or has a hard time making up the financial shortfall, she said.
Premier Yu Shyi-kun also said that he hopes the city will do its best to take care of the matter itself and that the government will do what it can to help and step in at an appropriate time.
To end the argument, Yu ordered the Ministry of the Interior and Council of Labor Affairs to help the city with the matter.
Earlier on June 6, Ma expressed his hope while accompanying Yu to inspect the dredging of the Keelung River that the Cabinet would grant the city a subsidy of NT$1.9 billion for dredging the part of the river running through the city, building levees along two tributaries of the river and relocating the 72-year-old Chungshan Bridge to reduce the risk of flooding.
Yu rejected Ma's request, saying that if Taipei City needed funding so badly, Ma should have brought up the issue during the weekly Cabinet affairs meetings.
Ma retorted that he tried to raise the issue during one of the meetings, but was told to wait, and that he told his substitute to explain the proposal when he had to leave the meetings early.
Commenting on the Cabinet's refusal to grant his requests, Ma said that it seems as if he is facing not only Lee in the mayoral poll but also the Executive Yuan, the DPP and the Presidential Office.
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