While the government has come under pressure from groups of academics over the way it has implemented education reforms, the groups themselves have begun squabbling over what some see is their manipulation by political parties.
Hsia Chu-joe (
Members of the Alliance to Oppose High Tuition (AOHT,
The internal split in the education reform movement came after Hsia's association agreed to meet KMT Chairman Lien Chan (
The move angered the AOHT and NGYG, who had joined Hsia and his association the day before in a protest outside the Presidential Office to demand President Chen Shui-bian (
Members of the AOHT confronted Lien to stop him from meeting with representatives of the JLERA, which later visited Lien to apologize for the altercation.
In a joint statement, the AOHT and NGYG accused Hsia's association of turning into a "Joy to Support Lien Chan Association."
"We don't want the public to regard us as instruments of any particular political party," the statement read.
A member of the AOHT, who identified herself only as Huang, yesterday told the Taipei Times, "Mr. Hsia's personal political judgment has seriously damaged the position of the entire campaign effort. Hsia even admitted that he initiated this meeting with Lien as well as the subsequent apology."
"Hsia kept all these activities secret from us. He and Lien even didn't allow us to voice our opinions in the meeting," Huang said.
Hsia, a professor from National Taiwan University, is a long-term social activist. He remarked in a public hearing at the legislature yesterday that "the education reform issue would be an explosive topic before the next presidential election."
In addition to the campaign initiated by social activists, more than 100 college professors led by NTU professor Huang Kuang-kuo (
The professors singled out Lee Yuan-tseh (
However, it was discovered that some of the scholars signing the petition had close ties with the KMT.
On Tuesday, Huang visited the legislative caucuses of all parties to seek their support. While Huang received a warm welcome from KMT lawmakers, TSU legislators questioned him over the timing of his actions.
Political commentator Chin Heng-wei (
As the KMT has started to organize a massive protest in September this year to accuse the DPP government of poorly implementing the reform measures, Chin said, "The professors' and social groups' reform campaign is apparently a tool to be used to attack the DPP in a bid to favor the KMT."
"Following this series of incidents, we can clearly see a well-knitted plot there. Hsia was the first one to start off the anti-DPP movement, while Huang followed up to support the activity," Chin said.
"Hsia's motivation is highly suspicious since he has never before shown any interest in education reform activities, while Huang, who cast all responsibility for the education reform plans onto Lee Yuan-tseh and the three-year-old DPP administration, has clearly revealed his intention to hurt the DPP."
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