Former Taichung County Council speaker Yen Ching-piao (
The court also found that Yen and his colleagues spent millions of NT dollars of taxpayers' money between 1998 and 2000 to cover expenditures at hostess bars and KTV lounges. In his ruling, the judge condemned the defendants' abuse of public office and ordered the three to return NT$30 million to the state treasury.
Although Yen's supporters argued that the court's decision was politically motivated, the Chen Shui-bian (
In the course of the KMT's rule, many people with backgrounds in organized crime and criminal records were recruited into the political arena. Most successfully "laundered" themselves through elections and accumulated personal influence within the political system.
The KMT funneled financial assistance to these local "fat cats" in exchange for their support during elections. This has not only brought the legislative branches at both the local and central levels into disrepute, but also endangers social stability and economic development.
The pervasive reach of "black gold" politics has had three effects: a corrupting political environment, loss of popular confidence in judicial independence and the destruction of a fair and competitive space for economic activity.
According to National Police Administration statistics, one in 12 members of current city and county councils, the Legislative Yuan and the National Assembly have criminal records. This has made Taiwan "Asia's Sicily."
Statistics explain only part of the story. Yen's story is a typical example of a politician born and raised by the KMT. When organized crime figures become village and township representatives, city and county councilors, city and county council speakers, or even national legislators, it creates formal channels for those with criminal records to cleanse themselves through the political arena. The greater their involvement in politics, the more pervasive their influence, the more it is to the detriment of the entire political and economic structure.
That explains why both People First Party Chairman James Soong (
Lee Yuan-tseh (李遠哲), president of Academia Sinica, once said that "organized crime is terrible, but corrupt officials are a lot worse" (
The government's actions in establishing an anti-black gold task force to collect evidence against criminal organizations and politicians with criminal ties deserves more public support. With the legislative election approaching, the government should speed up the pace of its investigations into vote-buying and set up an independent financial examination committee to supervise financial institutions in order to prevent corruption between candidates and conglomerates.
The government should continue to push the envelope and take these actions to further the goal of eradicating the scourge of "black gold."
Liu Kuan-teh is a Taipei-based political commentator.
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