Plan to change municipal status riles opposition

The plan to afford cities and counties the same status as that of Taipei and Kaohsiung, the nation's two special municipalities, drew mixed response in the legislature yesterday.

While ruling-party lawmakers pledged support for the plan, their opposition colleagues vowed to block the bill when it is introduced.

Proponents said the suggested measure is necessary to make the government smaller and more efficient but opponents branded it part of a DPP scheme to sap the political stature of Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九).

"It is time the country redrew its administrative districts and adjusted ties between the central and local governments," said newly installed TSU legislative leader Liao Pen-yen (廖本煙).

"The TSU welcomes proposals to streamline the government so that it may better serve the people."

Echoing its DPP allies who have advocated a two-level government, the fledgling party argued that the plan to unify the status of cities and counties would help balance development between urban and rural areas.

TSU lawmaker Chen Cheng-lung (程振隆) said that inequalities should not be an issue as long as the Cabinet can come up with a fair and reasonable formula to allocate funding to different districts.

But the main opposition KMT, which is counting on the popular mayor for its return to power, disagreed.

KMT lawmaker Cheng Feng-shih (鄭逢時) painted the proposed reform as nothing more than an extension of Ma-bashing.

"It is a common practice for countries to give their capital and metropolitan cities privileged treatment," Cheng said. "It seems to me that the DPP government has allowed their anti-Ma sentiment to cloud their policymaking."

Fellow KMT lawmaker Huang Chao-shun (黃昭順) shared the indignation and said her caucus would invoke all means available to abort legislation aimed at what she said amounted to the scrapping of the special municipalities.

A native of Kaohsiung City, Huang added that she could not understand why Kaohsiung Mayor and outgoing DPP Chairman Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) has lent his support to the proposal.

"If Hsieh is so unconcerned about the port city, he might as well quit seeking a second term," the four-term KMT legislator said. "Kaohsiung residents do not need a mayor who places partisan concerns ahead of his constituents."

Likewise, the PFP said it would vote down the proposed reform, which it maintains is politically motivated.

PFP Legislator Lee Hung-chun (李鴻鈞) said the DPP hopes to derail Ma's political career by downgrading the status of the two special municipalities.

He noted that the former ruling KMT employed the same tactics in its purge against former provincial governor James Soong (宋楚瑜), now the PFP chairman.

The KMT, through a 1997 constitutional amendment, downsized the provincial government and put a stop to direct elections of the provincial governor.