The bribery allegations against Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Taipei City Councilor Lai Su-ju (賴素如) in the Taipei Twin Towers (台北雙子星) project have shaken the KMT and severely damaged the image of President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration.
Lai, a close aide of Ma who had run his KMT chairman’s office, was ordered back into detention yesterday for allegedly accepting NT$1 million (US$33,500) as a down payment bribe from a project developer in the bidding process for the project.
The bribery allegations are especially ironic as she acted as the defense lawyer for former Executive Yuan secretary-general Lin Yi-shih (林益世) in his corruption trial last year.
When the scandal surrounding Lin broke last year, Ma, who doubles as KMT chairman, expressed regret over his close aide’s lack of integrity and immediately held a corruption prevention forum with government officials to demonstrate his determination to tackle the problem.
In the wake of the allegations against Lai, Ma offered his apologies twice and repeated his pledge to fight corruption.
However, his anti-corruption slogans have ceased to be persuasive and his image as a politician of integrity has been further damaged. A poll released in the Chinese-language Apple Daily yesterday showed that 60.75 percent of respondents said they do not have confidence in the integrity of the Ma administration. Only 31 percent still professed faith in Ma’s integrity.
“President Ma’s integrity was the biggest asset in his political career, and he is losing that asset in these corruption cases. He must recognize that maintaining his personal integrity is not enough. Action must be taken to eliminate corruption in his party,” Ming Chuan University professor Chen Chao-chien (陳朝建) said.
Ma defeated the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) in the 2008 presidential election and led the KMT back to power when the DPP was experiencing a loss of public confidence amid the corruption scandals involving former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and his family.
Chen Chao-chien said the corruption accusations against Lin and Lai, as well as other KMT politicians including Nantou County Commissioner Lee Chao-ching (李朝卿), have left the Ma administration unable to shift the media spotlight from its poor performance to the DPP’s perceived shortcomings.
Ma’s political strength as the leader of the pan-blue camp would be further compromised, Chen Chao-chien said.
Amid the latest allegations, concerns about Ma’s bid for re-election as party chairman emerged again after several KMT legislators questioned the president’s capability, and suggested that he shoulder the responsibility for Lai’s corruption case and reconsider his plans to seek another term as party chairman.
On the other hand, a number of KMT political heavyweights voiced their support for Ma’s re-election bid. Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平), Premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺), Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) and New Taipei City Mayor Eric Chu (朱立倫) all said that Ma should continue to serve as KMT chairman to strengthen cooperation between the party and the government in implementing policies.
“Even with support from the party heavyweights, Ma would become a nominal chairman as he is in his second and final term as president. The KMT will face a power struggle among future leaders and local factions,” Chen Chao-chien said.
Shih Cheng-feng (施正鋒), a professor at National Dong Hwa University, said the bribery scandal behind the construction project, which was initiated by Ma during his term as Taipei mayor in 2004, also damaged the public’s confidence in the capabilities of both Ma and Hau, and Lai’s case was another wake-up call for Ma that he should put less trust in grassroots politicians.
National Sun Yat-sen University political science professor Liao Da-chi (廖達琪) said Ma should strengthen his communications with party members and develop a better understanding of the party’s structure especially at the grassroots level.
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
The first bluefin tuna of the season, brought to shore in Pingtung County and weighing 190kg, was yesterday auctioned for NT$10,600 (US$333.5) per kilogram, setting a record high for the local market. The auction was held at the fish market in Donggang Fishing Harbor, where the Siaoliouciou Island-registered fishing vessel Fu Yu Ching No. 2 delivered the “Pingtung First Tuna” it had caught for bidding. Bidding was intense, and the tuna was ultimately jointly purchased by a local restaurant and a local company for NT$10,600 per kilogram — NT$300 ,more than last year — for a total of NT$2.014 million. The 67-year-old skipper
BREACH OF CONTRACT: The bus operators would seek compensation and have demanded that the manufacturer replace the chips with ones that meet regulations Two bus operators found to be using buses with China-made chips are to demand that the original manufacturers replace the systems and provide compensation for breach of contract, the Veterans Affairs Council said yesterday. Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) yesterday said that Da Nan Bus Co and Shin-Shin Bus Co Ltd have fielded a total of 82 buses that are using Chinese chips. The bus models were made by Tron-E, while the systems provider was CYE Electronics, Lin said. Lin alleged that the buses were using chips manufactured by Huawei subsidiary HiSilicon Co, which presents a national security risk if the
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