Sun, Dec 29, 2019 page3

• 2020 Elections: Tsai a ‘dishonest’ and ‘autocratic’ president, Ma says

  CAMPAIGNING: Ma said Tsai’s administration has lost seven allies and while it has introduced many bills, many were procedurally flawed

  • By Yang Hsin-hui and Jake Chung / Staff reporter, with staff writer
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  Former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday called President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) “a dishonest, autocratic” president whose policies have resulted in “the breaking of diplomatic ties and is contravening the Constitution.”

  Ma made the remarks while stumping for Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislative candidate Lee Yen-hsiu (李彥秀), who is running for the seat representing Taipei’s Neihu (內湖) and Nangang (南港) districts.

  Tsai’s “requests” for the Legislative Yuan 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) severely harmed the interests of the KMT, Ma said.

  

  Former president Ma Ying-jeou, left, stumps for Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lee Yen-hsiu, second right, who is running for re-election in Taipei’s fourth electoral district, Neihu and Nangang, during a campaign event in the district yesterday.

  Photo: CNA

  The act requires the KMT to declare its assets and provide proof that they were “legally” obtained, with assets that cannot be proved legal to be considered ill-gotten, Ma said, adding that unlike in court, the act is based on the premise that the party is guilty.

  “This goes against the concept of constitutionalism,” Ma said.

  Since being sworn into office in May 2016, Tsai has seen the loss of seven diplomatic allies, he said.

  “Tsai continues to claim that to vote for her [re-election], to vote for the Democratic Progressive Party [DPP], is to protect Taiwan’s sovereignty, but that is exactly the opposite,” Ma said.

  The DPP and the Tsai administration have introduced many bills, but many were procedurally incorrect, he said.

  Citing the anti-infiltration bill as an example, Ma said it was absurd that the Executive Yuan had not proposed its own version, but instead had the DPP caucus introduce one and sent it to a second reading without due discussion, which could be considered autocracy.

  While Tsai claims that her doctoral dissertation from the London School of Economics and Political Science was problem-free, it stands to reason that her dissertation failed to meet the university’s standards of being archived at three libraries, he said.

  Tsai has said that she obtained her doctoral degree from the university in 1984.

  However, the university requires all doctoral graduates, upon receiving their degrees, to join its alumni association, but Tsai’s name does not appear in association’s records for 1983 or 1984, Ma said.

  Ma clarified that he is not saying Tsai did not receive her doctorate, but said that he was starting to have doubts, as she has not dispelled the questions.
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