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DPP city councilors slam mayor over hall dispute

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) city councilors yesterday slammed Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) for ignoring his municipal duties and focusing his energy on the dispute over the renamed National Taiwan Democracy Memorial Hall.

Preoccupied with fighting with the Ministry of Education over the hall's name change, Hau had failed to attend the weekly Cabinet meeting to discuss the municipal budget, spending most of his time with the media discussing political issues involving dictator Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石), DPP Taipei City councilors Wu Su-yao (吳思瑤) and Chou Wei-yo (周威佑) said.

municipal budget

"You defend the `CKS Temple,' but don't know how to defend the municipal budget," Wu said during a question-and-answer session at the city council yesterday.

"We should just call you the `CKS Temple-keeper,' instead of Taipei mayor," Wu said.

Wu added that Hau had attended only 25 percent of all Cabinet meetings and 50 percent of municipal cross-departmental meetings.

Chou said a total of NT$400 billion (US$11 billion) of the budget for municipal projects remained frozen, as pan-blue legislators had stalled the general budget bill in the legislature.

pan-blue friends

"As mayor, you shouldn't be hiding in city hall to avoid fighting with your pan-blue friends over the budget," he said.

In response, Hau said he supports the general budget bill, but did not attend all Cabinet meetings because not all issues on the agenda were related to Taipei City.

Meanwhile, in the latest development in the dispute over the controversial hall, the Ministry of Education removed the sign bearing the hall's new name late on Thursday night.

Hau yesterday expressed gratitude over the ministry's friendly gesture, while insisting that the city government would continue to act according to the law on the issue.

`illegal sign'

"It's a good sign to see the ministry remove the illegal sign from the CKS Hall. Everything should be done in accordance with the law," Hau said.

The hall's chief official Tseng Kun-ti (曾坤地) later said they decided to remove the sign inside the hall to protect it from being destroyed by visitors, and to relieve police of the burden of guarding the sign.

The Taipei City Department of Cultural Affairs later gave the education ministry a NT$200,000 fine for failing to tear down the banners on the wall of the hall, adding that it would continue to fine the ministry until the banners are removed.

The department fined the ministry NT$100,000 on Thursday after it put the banners removed by the department back on the wall on Wednesday.
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