One year after taking over the chairmanship of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday acknowledged that reforming the party was a daunting challenge, while pledging to speed up the transformation of the KMT into a party of integrity that can bring "new hope" to the country.
"Taiwan is stuck with corruption scandals and political confrontations, while the world is moving forward. I am anxious about the situation," Ma said yesterday in a written statement titled "Expediting the Reform Process."
Acknowledging the complexity and difficulty in reforming the country's oldest political party, Ma compared the party to a "giant ship" that is carrying a lot of talent and heavy baggage at the same time.
PHOTO: CNA
"The biggest challenge for the KMT is to redevelop old structures and rebuild its engine, while keeping the ship running smoothly. More importantly, we need to confirm our destination and to sail toward a bright future," he said.
Ma said that as an opposition party that had lost much of the resources it enjoyed before the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) won the presidency in 2000, more effort would be required to reform the 100-year old party.
Ma also lauded former KMT chairman Lien Chan (
"I realize the challenge chairman Lien faced when he took over the chairmanship in 2000. It's quite remarkable for him to have pushed for KMT reform during his five-year term," he said.
Ma said the DPP had failed to give the Taiwanese hope, and promised to transform the KMT into a party of integrity, improve the economy and enhance cross-strait relations.
"Taiwan needs a refreshing force that will bring integrity and justice to society. The KMT needs to shoulder the task and lead Taiwan toward a brighter future," he said.
Ma urged all KMT members to speed up the reform process.
Ma won the KMT chairmanship election in July last year, beating Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (
Ma's first act in launching the reform effort after becoming chairman was to sell a building in Taipei, sparking protests from the pan-green camp, which said the property was one of the assets stolen from the public by the KMT during its rule.
The pan-green camp has said Ma has failed to address the party assets issue, and it launched a campaign demanding that Ma return party assets to the government.
Within the pan-blue camp, speculation has continued that Ma has problematic relations with other pan-blue heavyweights, including Wang, Lien and People First Party Chairman James Soong (
Asked yesterday to comment on his performance as KMT chairman during the past year, Ma said that others should be the judge, but added that he "works very hard on the job."
Facing more speculation about his relationship with Wang, Ma yesterday once again dismissed allegations that he threw a birthday party for Lien this week in order to ask Lien to talk to Wang for him.
"I invited chairman Lien for dinner simply to celebrate his birthday. There are no problems between me and Speaker Wang," he said yesterday while attending a campaign event for the KMT's candidates for Taipei City mayor and councilors.
Wang, who attended the event, also denied having problems communicating with Ma.
The Taipei Department of Health yesterday said it has launched a probe into a restaurant at Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store after a customer died of suspected food poisoning. A preliminary investigation on Sunday found missing employee health status reports and unsanitary kitchen utensils at Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) in the department store’s basement food court, the department said. No direct relationship between the food poisoning death and the restaurant was established, as no food from the day of the incident was available for testing and no other customers had reported health complaints, it said, adding that the investigation is ongoing. Later
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