Film producer organizes protest against Mayor Ma

A movie producer thinks Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) should spend more time on his day job and has organized a protest to demand Ma spend more time on municipal work as well as detail his spending from the mayor's special allowance fund.

Lim It-hong (林一方), the producer of Ugliness Behind the Beautiful, a movie being made about the 228 Incident, held a press conference with several civic associations yesterday to announce that the first phase of the sit-in would be held from today to Saturday near the intersection of Shifu Rd and Sungshou Rd.

Lim's group has obtained permission to stage a sit-in at that location until Oct. 24, except for the period between Sunday and Oct. 13, when the roads are reserved for Double Ten National Day celebrations, Lim said.

Lim said that Ma should bear responsibility for recent public unrest because the mayor had "double standards" when it came to dealing with the pro and anti-Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) campaigns.

He said the different standards have also been applied by the mayor to the corruption scandals involving the president and his family and the mayor's usage of his own special allowance case.

Lim said law enforcement authorities should conduct a thorough investigation into Ma's special allowance so that the same moral standard can be applied to Ma.

"The upheaval in Taiwan over the past few weeks reminded people of what happened 60 years ago," Lim said, referring to the 228 Incident, which he described as "a tragedy that happened because double standards were applied to the public."

He also said Ma had set a bad example by allowing the anti-Chen campaign to stage around-the-clock sit-ins.

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Taipei City councilor candidate Hung Chien-yi (洪健益) said Ma had a poor administration record over the past few years.

Hung also urged the mayor to explain how he spent his special allowance and concentrate more on city administration.

"In a democratic era, everything should be able to be examined by the law," Li Chuan-hsin (李川信), former president of the Union of Taiwanese Teachers, told the press conference.

He said that Ma should consider withdrawing the permission given to former DPP chairman Shih Ming-teh's (施明德) camp to hold 24-hour sit-ins against President Chen.

People from many walks of life in Taipei have been suffering because business has fallen off as a result of the sit-in, Li added.