The Chinese Nationalist Party's (KMT) five-decade rule of agricultural Yunlin County may come to an end in Saturday's elections. The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) are determined to win the local-chief elections and their candidate has put forward a number of practical agricultural policies aimed at turning Taiwan's poorest county, a place plagued by a culture of "black gold" and vote-buying, into a bright and prosperous agricultural center.
Abrupt end
The KMT's rule ended abruptly last December, when former county commissioner Chang Jung-wei (張榮味) was arrested on charges of alleged corruption involving a waste-incinerator construction project. Since then, the county's leadership has been in the hands of Li Chin-yung (李進勇), a DPP member who was appointed by the central government to replace Chang.
Saturday's elections will see KMT representative Hsu Shu-po (許舒博), a 43-year-old fourth-term legislator, and the DPP's Su Chih-fen (蘇治芬), a 53-year-old former legislator whose family has a long history in the politics of Yunlin, fight it out for control of the county.
A keenly fought competition is expected on Dec. 3 as several recent polls carried out by different media groups suggest that Su is slightly ahead.
In Yunlin's past, local factions have played a decisive role in many elections. Results of past elections have shown that the support of Chang's faction, disunited since his arrest, will play a key factor in any election victory.
To unite the factions into supporting the KMT, Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) has visited Yunlin several times to take part in Hsu's campaign activities. Hsu reportedly said that he has more than 70 percent support from former-commissioner Chang's voter base.
However, the DPP is also busy throwing its weight behind their candidate, Su. President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) has visited Yunlin four times this month and has helped to sell Su's policies about turning Yunlin into Taiwan's most competitive agricultural county, or its "Agricultural Capital."
In the 20 townships of Yunlin County, cropland makes up over 68 percent of the total land area. The local farmers' irrigation associations dominate proceedings during elections.
Fallow-fields policy
Since Taiwan joined the WTO in 2002, a compulsory fallow-field policy has been implemented to avoid creating a surplus of fruit and vegetables and to help tackle water shortage problems.
Farmers in more than 10 of the county's townships have been affected. Meanwhile, randomly reported cases of heavy metal pollution in many paddy fields have highlighted the plight of the county's agriculture.
"Yunlin's roots lie in agriculture. An ideal local government would help to technically upgrade it, modernize it and internationalize it," Su said during a press conference two weeks ago.
Wu Ming-ming (吳明敏), a marketing professor at National Chung Hsing University, told the Taipei Times that Su's policies, if implemented well via the local government, might practically improve the lives of the region's poor farmers.
Wu, who is also an agricultural consultant to the Taiwan Thinktank, said, "However, the county will have to pay substantially during the transition. For example, ensuring sufficient selling channels and the safety of agricultural products relies on regulatory reforms."
KMT candidate Hsu's policies rely on the speeding up the development of the Yunlin offshore industrial park. The former KMT-led local government had worked with the central government to carry out projects ensuring water and electricity supplies.
Major investment
Hsu advocates major investment, including a steel mill project from the Formosa Plastics Group, which will require a 600-hectare plot of land. The group has already built one petrochemical complex in the area.
"The development of an offshore industrial park may provide a boost for the local economy, but many of the new job opportunities created would not be for locals," Wu said.
The Taipei Summer Festival is to begin tomorrow at Dadaocheng Wharf (大稻埕), featuring four themed firework shows and five live music performances throughout the month, the Taipei Department of Information and Tourism said today. The festival in the city’s Datong District (大同) is to run until Aug. 30, holding firework displays on Wednesdays and the final Saturday of the event. The first show is scheduled for tomorrow, followed by Aug. 13, 20 and 30. To celebrate the 30th anniversary of Disney Pixar's movie Toy Story, the festival has partnered with Walt Disney Co (Taiwan) to host a special themed area on
Aftershocks from a magnitude 6.2 earthquake that struck off Yilan County at 3:45pm yesterday could reach a magnitude of 5 to 5.5, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Seismological Center technical officer Chiu Chun-ta (邱俊達) told a news conference that the epicenter of the temblor was more than 100km from Taiwan. Although predicted to measure between magnitude 5 and 5.5, the aftershocks would reach an intensity of 1 on Taiwan’s 7-tier scale, which gauges the actual effect of an earthquake, he said. The earthquake lasted longer in Taipei because the city is in a basin, he said. The quake’s epicenter was about 128.9km east-southeast
BE CAREFUL: The virus rarely causes severe illness or death, but newborns, older people and those with medical conditions are at risk of more severe illness As more than 7,000 cases of chikungunya fever have been reported in China’s Guangdong Province this year, including 2,892 new cases last week, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday said it is monitoring the situation and considering raising the travel notice level, which might be announced today. The CDC issued a level 1 travel notice, or “watch,” for Guangdong Province on July 22, citing an outbreak in Foshan, a manufacturing hub in the south of the province, that was reported early last month. Between July 27 and Saturday, the province reported 2,892 new cases of chikungunya, reaching a total of 7,716
STAY VIGILANT: People should reduce the risk of chronic liver inflammation by avoiding excessive alcohol consumption, smoking and eating pickled foods, the physician said A doctor last week urged people to look for five key warning signs of acute liver failure after popular producer-turned-entertainer Shen Yu-lin (沈玉琳) was reportedly admitted to an intensive care unit for fulminant hepatitis. Fulminant hepatitis is the rapid and massive death of liver cells, impairing the organ’s detoxification, metabolic, protein synthesis and bile production functions, which if left untreated has a mortality rate as high as 80 percent, according to the Web site of Advancing Clinical Treatment of Liver Disease, an international organization focused on liver disease prevention and treatment. People with hepatitis B or C are at higher risk of
RSS