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No splurge on Chen farewell: MND

“The president has asked us not to waste any money or interrupt our regular training. He said big entrances would be unnecessary and should be avoided ... The newspaper story is unfair and altogether false. ”

Lisa Chi, Ministry of National Defense spokeswoman

The Ministry of National Defense (MND) denied yesterday that it was wasting government funds to give President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) a sendoff.

“The ministry will follow tradition when arranging the president’s final review of military units. There is no way we would waste government funds for this or interrupt the regular schedules of military units to say goodbye to the president,” ministry spokeswoman Colonel Lisa Chi (池玉蘭) said during a press conference yesterday morning.

Chi’s remarks referred to a story in yesterday’s Chinese-language Apple Daily which reported that the ministry was planning to spend more than NT$100 million (US$3 million) arranging “farewell trips” for Chen before he leaves office on May 20.

The ministry was organizing trips so that military personnel from different units would have a chance to “bid farewell” to the president, the paper said.

The story also said that the “farewell” plans had interrupted units’ regular schedules and that soldiers had had to reschedule their regular training courses because of the president’s visits.

“On the contrary, the president has asked us not to waste any money or interrupt our regular training. He said big entrances would be unnecessary and should be avoided,” Chi said.

“The newspaper story is unfair and altogether false,” she said.

Chi also said that a “farewell trip” for the outgoing president was a ministry tradition. It was merely a farewell activity for soldiers to say goodbye and show their respect to the president.

The ministry’s comments were echoed by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislative caucus.

“As the ministry said, this is a tradition,” said DPP caucus whip William Lai (賴清德).

“I think that my fellow lawmakers on the [Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT)] side would also respect this tradition, as would the president,” he said.

Asked for comment, KMT Legislator Sun Ta-chien (孫大千) called on Chen to take government coffers into consideration and simplify the military review ceremony.

Sun said that although it was a military tradition to hold grand ceremonies for the outgoing president when the KMT was in office, “traditions can be changed.”

Additional reporting by Flora Wang


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