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Rival camps bicker over Hakka budget

Supporters of Council for Hakka Affairs Minister Lee Yung-teh (李永得) and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Wong Chung-chun (翁重鈞) staged demonstrations in Taipei yesterday as the dispute between the two over budget issues continued.

On Dec. 3, Wong proposed postponing cross-party negotiations on the council's budget for next year after asking the council to explain why it rejected an application for NT$8 million (US$249,000) from Shueishang Township (水上), Chiayi County, to construct an ecological park around a pond in Siangnan Village (鄉南村).

An angry Lee accused Wong of "political kidnapping."

More than a hundred Hakka from Taipei County, Pingtung County and Kaohsiung staged a demonstration outside the legislature in support of Lee and urged lawmakers to resume negotiations.

"Wong cannot do this -- he cannot freeze all the council's budgets just because of the NT$8 million that he didn't get," said Tsou Yuan-kan (鄒源淦), president of the Alliance of Baozhong Yimin Associations -- a grouping of Hakka religious organizations.

"There are so many Hakka people, but the council has limited funds, so it cannot satisfy everybody -- especially as Shueishang Township has only about two to three hundred Hakka," Tsou said.

"Hakka in Taipei City voiced their support for Lee yesterday, and we're here today. If the legislature doesn't resume review of the budget soon, Hakka in Taoyuan, Hsinchu and Miaoli will demonstrate, too," he said.

Meanwhile, more than 30 Wong supporters from Shueishang condemned Lee for "not fulfilling his promises" during a press conference at the legislature.

"The council sent a letter promising the money in January and asked us to submit a construction plan. It sent another letter in March asking us to submit the construction plan, so it could `take care of the budget issue,'" Shueishang Township Mayor Wang Chi-li (王啟澧) told the news conference. "But now the council has rejected our application -- he has lied to us."

Tsou Kuo-chai (鄒國才), chairman of the local Yimin Temple, agreed with Wang Chi-li and said that Lee had personally promised the funding.

The group later went to the council, where they met Lee.

Lee denied he had promised the funding.

"I only promised to push for it, I didn't promise the funding. It's not within my authority," Lee said. "All funding has to be approved by a review committee. I cannot overwrite their decision -- even as a minister."

"We sent letters asking for a construction plan," Lee said. "It was because the review committee needed the information to make a decision."

Lee said the funding was not approved because it did not contain anything related to Hakka culture in the plan.

"There is a water and soil conservation plan and a hiking trail, but nothing related to Hakka culture," he said.

Lee Zi-chai (李自在), a local resident disagreed, saying the pond around which the park would be built was an "irrigation pond dug by Hakka settlers during the Qing Dynasty."

Lee Yung-teh suggested the residents submit the plan again, supplemented by historical research.

In related news, Lee Yung-teh visited Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) in person to apologize yesterday.

On Thursday, the council passed a resolution condemning Wong, KMT legislative caucus whip Tseng Yung-chuan (曾永權), who endorsed Wong's proposal, and Wang Jin-pyng -- whose signature noting receipt of the document was mistaken as his endorsement -- and asked them to explain why they stopped the cross-party negotiations.

"I admitted that we made a mistake by taking Wang Jin-pyng's signature as his endorsement. I paid him a visit and apologized," Lee Yung-teh said.

Meanwhile, Wang Jin-pyng urged the Cabinet not to interfere with the legislature's authority to review government budget proposals after the council's statement urging Wang to explain what they thought was his endorsement.

"Once again, I'd like to clarify the legislature's authority as stated in the Constitution. We suggest that the Cabinet and its subordinate organizations respect the legislature's power to review [budgets] instead of interfering in the review process," he told a press conference.

Additional reporting by Flora Wang
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