The arrogance of President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration has shattered public confidence in the government, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, citing a recent poll indicating that US President Barack Obama is more popular in Taiwan than Ma is.
A recent survey by the Chinese-language Commonwealth Magazine found that public confidence in Ma had dropped 3.2 percentage points to 38.6 percent, trailing behind Obama at 46.1 percent.
With Ma’s approval rating below 40 percent and many Taiwanese feeling the impact of the global economic slump that has pushed unemployment to more than 6 percent, the DPP is hoping next month’s regional elections will be a symbolic vote of no confidence in the Ma administration.
PHOTO: CNA
The DPP controls only three of the 17 counties and cities up for grabs in next month’s polls and hopes to capitalize on the public’s grievances to add to its total.
“The public’s strong distrust in the government is a disaster,” DPP Spokeswoman Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) said.
Hsiao criticized the government for disregarding the legislature when carrying out its policies.
PHOTO: FU CHAO-PIAO, TAIPEI TIMES
Hsiao said the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) had consistently ignored the advice and suggestions of the DPP, and urged the government to start heeding the opinions of others before public confidence in the administration erodes even further.
Meanwhile, Hsiao accused the KMT of using “dirty tricks” to sabotage the DPP candidate for Chiayi County commissioner, Chang Hua-kuan (張花冠), by nudging prosecutors to launch a probe into Chang’s campaign headquarters.
At a fundraising concert on Friday night, DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said the party had information indicating that prosecutors were planning a large-scale investigation into Chang’s office.
Tsai called on the KMT to refrain from such tactics in order to prevent conflict.
“This is absolutely unfair to the DPP candidates. In the last few years, in every major election, the DPP candidates have been investigated by the judiciary. But the fact is, the recent string of lawmakers that have fallen from grace for vote-buying have all belonged to the pan-blue camp,” Hsiao said.
Hsiao insinuated that the KMT was trying to direct the attention of prosecutors to the DPP alone so that pan-blue candidates would be able to buy votes unhampered.
Hsiao urged the public to help end vote-buying by immediately reporting anyone purchasing or attempting to purchase votes.
At a separate setting yesterday, KMT Spokesman Lee Chien-jung (李建榮) dismissed the DPP’s accusations and urged Tsai not to shift the focus off prosecutors’ investigations into election bribery.
“The DPP is like a thief who is afraid of being caught and is trying to shift the focus by smearing the KMT,” Lee said.
Lee said the KMT would call for unity within the party and take precautions against potential election tricks by the DPP.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY MO YAN-CHIH AND CNA
SHIPS, TRAINS AND AUTOMOBILES: The ministry has announced changes to varied transportation industries taking effect soon, with a number of effects for passengers Beginning next month, the post office is canceling signature upon delivery and written inquiry services for international registered small packets in accordance with the new policy of the Universal Postal Union, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday. The new policy does not apply to packets that are to be delivered to China, the ministry said. Senders of international registered small packets would receive a NT$10 rebate on postage if the packets are sent from Jan. 1 to March 31, it added. The ministry said that three other policies are also scheduled to take effect next month. International cruise ship operators
HORROR STORIES: One victim recounted not realizing they had been stabbed and seeing people bleeding, while another recalled breaking down in tears after fleeing A man on Friday died after he tried to fight the knife-wielding suspect who went on a stabbing spree near two of Taipei’s busiest metro stations, Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said. The 57-year-old man, identified by his family name, Yu (余), encountered the suspect at Exit M7 of Taipei Main Station and immediately tried to stop him, but was fatally wounded and later died, Chiang said, calling the incident “heartbreaking.” Yu’s family would receive at least NT$5 million (US$158,584) in compensation through the Taipei Rapid Transit Corp’s (TRTC) insurance coverage, he said after convening an emergency security response meeting yesterday morning. National
PLANNED: The suspect visited the crime scene before the killings, seeking information on how to access the roof, and had extensively researched a 2014 stabbing incident The suspect in a stabbing attack that killed three people and injured 11 in Taipei on Friday had planned the assault and set fires at other locations earlier in the day, law enforcement officials said yesterday. National Police Agency (NPA) Director-General Chang Jung-hsin (張榮興) said the suspect, a 27-year-old man named Chang Wen (張文), began the attacks at 3:40pm, first setting off smoke bombs on a road, damaging cars and motorbikes. Earlier, Chang Wen set fire to a rental room where he was staying on Gongyuan Road in Zhongzheng District (中正), Chang Jung-hsin said. The suspect later threw smoke grenades near two exits
The Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency yesterday launched a gift box to market honey “certified by a Formosan black bear” in appreciation of a beekeeper’s amicable interaction with a honey-thieving bear. Beekeeper Chih Ming-chen (池明鎮) in January inspected his bee farm in Hualien County’s Jhuosi Township (卓溪) and found that more than 20 beehives had been destroyed and many hives were eaten, with bear droppings and paw prints near the destroyed hives, the agency said. Chih returned to the farm to move the remaining beehives away that evening when he encountered a Formosan black bear only 20m away, the agency said. The bear
RSS