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Legislative elections and referendums: Ma knows nothing about day-to-day life in Taiwan: Hsieh

Democratic Progressive Party presidential candidate Frank Hsieh tries on a hat given to him during a visit to the Presbyterian Church headquarters in Taipei yesterday. PHOTO: CNA

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) yesterday said his Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) counterpart Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) knew nothing about ordinary people's lives after Ma panned Hsieh for knowing nothing about the economy.

"Ma said I don't know anything about the economy," Hsieh said. "I say he has no idea about ordinary people's happiness."

Hsieh said that while Ma was happy because he had increased his personal wealth by NT$46.3 million (US$1.4 million) over the past 10 years, he had no idea how ordinary people live their lives.

The idea of economic prosperity that Hsieh advocates, Hsieh said, is to ease the plight of the people. If elected, he said he would make an effort to create more jobs, give unemployed people something to do and make houses more affordable.

Criticizing the high real estate prices in Taipei City, Hsieh said people with an average income would not be able to afford a place of their own because a 30-ping apartment in the capital city now costs approximately NT$15.4 million.

While Ma described the high property prices in the city a sign of "prosperity," Hsieh said that he would like to point out two things.

First, average household disposable income in Taipei City, where Ma served as mayor, increased by 14 percent from 1998 to 2006, while that in Kaohsiung City, where he served as mayor, grew by 18 percent.

During the same period, Hsieh said the population in Taipei City decreased by over 24,000, while that in Kaohsiung City increased by 35,000. Taipei City lost 14,000 people last year alone and household disposable income decreased by NT$15,000 from 2005 to 2006.

Second, 40 percent of the monthly salary of a regular income earner in Taipei City goes on mortgage payments, while the figure in Kaohsiung City was 28 percent, with 25 percent universally accepted as a reasonable amount, he said.

In other words, a married couple with a joint monthly income of NT$70,000 were estimated to pay between NT$35,000 and NT$45,000 for a 25-ping apartment in the capital city, he said.

Dismissing Ma's praise of Taipei's high property prices as "irresponsible," Hsieh said that in the nation generally there is a big gap between rich and poor, but that it is most serious in Taipei City.

"Ma interpreted it as a result of the free market economy, but how does he know anything about the plight of ordinary people when his personal account increased by more than NT$40 million over the past 10 years," Hsieh said.

Hsieh said he is not in favor of government intervention in the real estate market, but that the government is duty bound to help the young and disadvantaged find a place to live.

He proposed that the government release state-owned land for the construction of public housing to be rented to people above 25 years of age. Such a privilege would be offered on a once-in-a-lifetime basis.

To alleviate the financial burden on young tenants, he proposed the government offer a 40 percent discount on rent for the first two years and a 20 percent discount for the following two years.

He also proposed a low-interest loan program to make real estate affordable to young people. Under the program, first-time buyers would be entitled to interest-free loans.

The government would build more dormitories on campuses and make efforts to stabilize real estate prices so that young people could afford a house of their own, he said.
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