Trouble looms for agriculture conference

A partisan air will hang over the national conference on agriculture financing today as participants remain divided over the path of reform.

The ruling DPP continued to frown on the proposal to put grassroots credit institutions under the oversight of the Council of Agriculture yesterday, saying the measure will hamper the effort to overhaul the nation's financial sector.

Its TSU allies threatened to quit the high-profile forum en masse right after signing the attendance sheets, saying that speeches by government officials will dominate the one-day agenda.

Meanwhile, KMT delegates said they would press ahead and pitch their own agriculture finance bill under which credit units of the farmers' and fishermen's associations will exist alongside the planned creation of a national agriculture bank.

The meeting is intended to map out policy for revamping the nation's agriculture finance after an earlier attempt drew strong resistance from farmers and fishermen that culminated in a mass demonstration in Taipei last weekend.

Over 120,000 farmers and fishermen turned out for the protest that prompted top finance and agriculture officials to step down.

DPP Gao Jyh-peng (高志鵬), however, questioned the wisdom of denying the Ministry of Finance the authority to regulate those community lenders.

He introduced his own legislation that would make the ministry's Bureau of Monetary Affairs the interim regulatory agency before a financial supervisory board can be formed to take charge.

"Financial institutions, while varied in size and services, should come under uniform government supervision to avoid policy confusion," Gao said.

Backtracking

The Cabinet, bowing to pressure from leaders at the 344 farmers' and fishermen's associations, has agreed to hand jurisdiction to the Council of Agriculture. In addition, it has halted new risk-control measures aimed at curbing bad loans incurred by credit departments at those associations.

DPP Lin Chung-cheng (林忠正) said he agreed to the establishment of a national agriculture bank but insisted the bank be regulated by the Ministry of Finance.

"Failing to do that, the financial reform will prove to be futile," he warned.

Both Gao and Lin also called attention to future ties between the proposed bank and grassroots credit cooperatives and argued the latter must no longer be run by existing association managers.

Over the years, many of those managers have taken advantage of their positions to secure loans for themselves and their cronies, the lawmakers said.

Their TSU allies threatened to withdraw from the conference later in the day after told of its agenda.

`Cheering team'

"Judging from its contents, the meeting is more like a speech session where most participants are intended by organizers to act as the cheering team," TSU legislative leader Su Ying-kwei (蘇盈貴) told reporters.

He pointed out that only 12 of the 160 panelists will be allowed to make a three-minute speech through lot-drawing. Fellow colleague Huang Chung-yung (黃宗源) said he suspected the Cabinet intends to use the forum to lobby support for the proposed increase of the Financial Restructuring Fund.

"The meeting might as well be canceled, if it is reduced to this function alone," he said.