The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday criticized the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) for using its legislative majority to go after the party’s assets, citing a KMT-commissioned poll that showed that a majority of the public disapproved with the way the government is dealing with the issue.
The telephone poll, announced by KMT Culture and Communications Committee deputy director Hung Meng-Kai (洪孟楷), was conducted on the KMT’s behalf by Taiwan Real Survey Co on Tuesday and Wednesday last week.
The poll asked whether respondents agreed or disagreed with the DPP’s use of its legislative majority to pass the Act Governing the Handling of Ill-gotten Properties by Political Parties and Their Affiliate Organizations (政黨及其附隨組織不當取得財產處理條例), adding that the act “deprived the KMT of its ability to survive” as a political institution.
The poll showed that 50.5 percent of respondents said they disagreed with the policy, while 23.8 poercent agreed with it and 25.8 percent had no opinion, Hung said.
It said that 52.9 percent of respondents agreed that the nationalization of KMT-owned Central Investment Co (中央投資) and Hsinyutai Co (欣裕台) was an issue that should have been dealt with by the courts or another judicial process, while 22.0 percent disagreed and 25.2 percent had no opinion, Hung said.
Citing the survey, Hung said a majority of the public believed that a judicial process should have been the authority in deciding the nationalization of party assets and not the Ill-gotten Party Assets Settlement Committee, which has been “arbitrarily contravening the constitutionally guaranteed right for people to own property.”
The KMT could initiate a legal challenge to the committee decision on Nov. 25 to nationalize the two firms “as a constitutional issue regarding the right to own property,” Hung said.
On other issues, the poll said 25 percent of respondents believe the KMT is the party best-suited to play the opposition role and to keep the government in check, while 10 percent chose the New Power Party (NPP), 24.4 percent chose neither and 31.5 percent had no opinion, Hung said, adding that the survey showed the KMT was the most trusted opposition party in the legislature.
The survey collected 1,148 valid samples. It had a confidence level of 95 percent and a margin of error of 2.8 percentage points.
Meanwhile, the KMT yesterday announced a busy fundraising schedule for KMT Chairwoman Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱), who is expected to leave today on a five-day visit to Thailand and Malaysia to meet the party’s overseas supporters and receive donations.
Tomorrow in Bangkok, Hung Hsiu-chu is to attend a fundraiser held by the Chinese Association, then depart on Friday for Malaysia, where she is to interact with local reporters and attend a banquet in Kuala Lumpur.
She is set to leave for Penang the next day, the KMT said.
On Sunday, the KMT chairwoman is to tour the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Center and the Sun Yat-sen Museum in Penang, before returning to Taiwan in the evening.
KMT sources said party headquarters had been planning the visits since last month, when Hung Hsiu-chu and KMT Vice Chairman Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) attended an event marking the party’s 122nd anniversary in Manila.
The KMT claims that the Ill-gotten Party Assets Settlement Committee’s planned nationalization of the party’s assets has negatively affected its ability to finance its political campaigns, as well as pay its workers.
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