Today, we are going to send the year 2003 into history. However, at this time of retrospection and anticipation, there is news that the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) has reneged on its promise to the people regarding the national assets it sometimes acquired at dirt-cheap prices through questionable means and other times simply stole.
How can the Taiwanese public not be angered by such news?
It is difficult for us to know whether the KMT, which ruled Taiwan for half a century and lost the reins of power more than three years ago, wants to regain power. Even when it was in power, the KMT promised the public that it would put its assets in a trust fund, and that it was only waiting for passage of a bill governing the disposition of assets gained through improper means by political parties. The KMT's promises have turned out to be lies.
On top of information revealed by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators about the KMT selling off its assets, the December issue of Wealth magazine (
The properties included the party's old Taipei City branch office on Zhongxiao East Road, the Housheng building on Renai Road and the Tsungsheng building on Zhongxiao West Road. The KMT gained between NT$4 billion (US$117 million) and NT$5 billion from the sell-offs, according to the report.
The problem is that those assets stand on government land that was transferred to KMT ownership at dirt-cheap prices. A few properties were transferred without any remuneration, gifts from the KMT-run government to the KMT party. How generous!
These sneaky sell-offs are, of course, a thorough violation of the party's earlier promises to the people.
On Sunday, the DPP's campaign spokesman, Wu Nai-jen (
In the face of criticism, a KMT spokesperson said the party had used the money to cover the financial losses at KMT-run businesses, to repay bank loans and to pay for party operations.
What nonsense! The Taiwanese public may well be the rightful owners of most of these assets. How can the KMT use the money it raised to pay off its own debts before the assets' ownership is clarified?
Some say that the KMT is hurrying to sell off its assets to "innocent third parties" because it is worried about the growing calls for repossession of illegally transferred or stolen assets. Others say that the KMT is raising large sums of money to fund its presidential campaign, and has sold off its assets cheaply so that it can buy votes and bribe local vote captains.
Either or both of these claims are quite likely. More than 30 times, the KMT and its ally the People First Party (PFP) have blocked the party assets bill from passing committee review and reaching the legislative floor. Without the law, the DPP cannot go after the KMT's assets.
The thuggish behavior of the KMT and the PFP is outrageous. Lies and theft and China; that's all the pan-blue camp stands for. Heaven help Taiwan if it ever sees office again.
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