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TSU brushes off media allegations of `bribery'

Responding to criticism that it was bribing the public, the Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) said yesterday that it only wished it could offer greater rewards to participants in its online campaign against high tuition fees.

Convenor of the campaign Lin Chih-chia (林志嘉) made the "apology" at a press conference held in response to an article published by the Chinese-language Apple Daily on Tuesday. The article criticized the party for trying to lure students into participating in its campaign by offering them cash rewards.

The TSU launched the campaign last Wednesday, inviting students to add their names to an online petition.

The 100th participant will receive NT$500 while the 1,000th participant will receive NT$1,000.

"The TSU does not have either party assets or resources. What we can offer [participants] is a little warmth," Lin said. "We wish we could give more."

University tuition fees are a great burden to students and their families, he added.

Citing statistics from the Ministry of Education, Lin said that tuition fees at public universities had increased by 49 percent over the past 14 years. In the same period, fees at private universities increased by 18 percent, he said.

According to Lin's data, the average annual tuition fee at a public university increased from NT$30,512 in 1993 to NT$59,490 last year. For private universities, the increase was from NT$88,488 in 1993 to NT$108,338 last year.

"The Democratic Progressive Party and the Chinese Nationalist Party [KMT] are preoccupied with identifying presidential candidates, but we think the two major political parties should spare some thought to issues that affect people's livelihoods. They should face these problems and offer solution to them," he said.

Of the participants in the TSU's campaign, 2,969 agree that tuition fees are too high while 577 disagree.
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