The Presidential Office yesterday dismissed a report that President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) allegedly sneered and jeered at Presidential Office Secretary-General Liao Liou-yi (廖了以) over several petty matters and that Liao wanted to leave his post.
Presidential Office spokesman Lo Chih-chiang (羅智強) said Ma and Liao were perfectionists and usually dealt with matters on their own merit.
Their demands for perfection were aimed at making things move more smoothly and effectively, Lo said, adding that Ma did not use any emotional language to “taunt” Liao, as the Chinese-language Next magazine claimed in its latest issue.
The report alleged that Ma had complained about Liao’s recent performance and that an upset Liao was considering quitting.
It said Ma was unhappy that Liao failed to invite former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairman Wu Poh-hsiung (吳伯雄) to a meeting at the Presidential Office to usher in the New Year, and that the president rebuked Liao over the telephone.
It added that Ma gave Liao a dressing down after first lady Chow Mei-ching (周美青) complained to the president that she noticed a national flag had slipped down its pole during the Double Ten National Day ceremony on Oct. 10.
Another incident that is alleged to have angered Ma was a shipment of memorial watches — to be given by Ma’s office as presents — that purportedly bore the inscription “Presidential Office” in simplified Chinese.
In response, Lo said Wu was not on the guest list because they did not intend to invite party members. However, a decision was subsequently made to invite more guests, Lo said.
Regarding the flag and watch incidents, Lo said Liao’s attitude toward any problem was to find out what went wrong and make improvements.
He would also establish a mechanism to prevent a repeat of such incidents, he said.
Meanwhile, the magazine also questioned whether Lo had violated a government rule banning civil servants from using social-networking Web sites such as Facebook or Plurk during office hours.
Lo yesterday said he needed to use Facebook for business purposes, adding that he had asked the Ministry of Civil Service whether it would be appropriate for him to do so.
The ministry told him that it would be acceptable to use such platforms as long as it was related to his work, Lo said.
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