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Presidential election 2008: 14 days to go:Ma, Hsieh tout policy platform

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday criticized his Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) rival Frank Hsieh's (謝長廷) ideas on cross-strait relations as conservative, while Hsieh accused Ma of incompetence during a televised presentation of their campaign platforms last night.

The presentation, organized by the Central Election Commission, gave the two candidates an opportunity to expound on their policy platforms and vision in two 15-minute shifts each.

Calling the period between 1993 and 1996 when Ma was minister of justice the "darkest time in the history of Taiwan's public order," Hsieh questioned Ma' s ability to run the country.

"In 1994, former Pingtung County Council speaker Cheng Tai-chi (鄭太吉) shot a man 16 times in front of his mother; the following year, the Kaohsiung County speaker was shot seven times, and three councilors were shot dead," Hsieh said.

The number of violent incidents doubled from an average of 7,000 in the previous years to 16,489 in 1994, Hsieh said.

The county will continue to be wracked by political division if Ma is elected president as Ma faces the same problems as President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁): Ma was indicted on corruption charges and Ma's wife was involved in stock transactions, Hsieh said.

Hsieh also alleged that Ma and his wife still hold US permanent resident status.

Ma in turn slammed Hsieh for spending too much time in attacking him and his family members and too little time in discussing public policies.

"Hsieh' s critiques of my cross-strait common market are a reflection of his lack of confidence in the Taiwanese public," Ma said.

Unlike Hsieh, Ma said, he could aggressively push for an expansion of cross-strait trade relations because of his belief in the Taiwanese public.

The CEC will hold another televised presentation on Monday during which the two vice presidential candidates -- the DPP's Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) and the KMT's Vincent Siew (蕭萬長) -- will present their campaign platform.
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