The Taipei City Government has set up a five-member taskforce dubbed the “Taipei Flora Expo Inspection Advisory Panel,” ostensibly to clear public doubts surrounding the scandal-stung expo.
Claiming that the five members are all “outsiders,” Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) asserted the panel would “thoroughly examine the flora expo” using their respective expertise. Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lai Shyh-bao (賴士葆), one of the panel members, said the initiative suggested Hau’s openness to receiving criticism and that his acceptance on Monday of the resignations of three of his close aides would stop the bleeding.
Many hope so, as the city government has mucked up the flora expo enough, marring impressions of what is supposed to be an international horticultural event to be celebrated with Taiwanese pride.
Subsequent comments made by Lai, however, have left many wondering whether the panel will truly work to help the city government regain public confidence or instead become a boomerang that comes back to inflict more injuries on Hau.
“What’s wrong with having all members of the public supporting the flora expo?” Lai said in response to the string of criticism dogging the city government over its expo preparations and management — from alleged overpriced plants and exhibition items to complaints over forced practice sessions for the flora expo dance routine during office and school hours — and allegations that agencies under the city government were given quotas for selling flora expo tickets.
Of course, there’s nothing wrong with supporting the expo. Every Taiwanese in his or her right mind would want the event to succeed and receive rounds of applause. However, that wish alone does not justify wrongdoing. What good would Lai serve on the inspection panel if he is of the opinion — as his comment suggests — that all actions taken by the city government could be excused in the name of “supporting the expo”?
A closer look at the names on the panel further dampens the public’s confidence, leaving many wondering if the city government is at all sincere and determined to “thoroughly examine the flora expo” and address public doubts about it.
The other four members of the panel are Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp chairman Ou Chin-der (歐晉德), Performance Workshop founder Stan Lai (賴聲川), Public Construction Commission lawyer Lee Chia-ching (李家慶) and National Taiwan University of Science and Technology construction engineering professor Shannon Lee (李咸亨).
Are they really “outsiders” who can scrutinize the expo with due objectivity?
For starters, Ou, like Lai, is a KMT member. This is not to say that either Ou or Lai lack credibility because of their party affiliation. However, given that the expo scandal has dealt a heavy blow to Hau’s November re-election bid, it does not seem convincing that a taskforce headed by Hau himself and staffed with party comrades could objectively supervise the expo without tint of bias.
Then there is Shannon Lee, who was himself involved in the early stages of the planning of the expo. It is therefore a question floating in the minds of many whether he could impartially find faults in a project in which he was involved.
While the bulk of criticism leveled against the expo involves allegedly inflated prices for plant and flower items, it is conspicuous that the taskforce lacks a real horticultural expert.
In case it hasn’t occured to Hau, the most efficient and effective way of clearing public doubts surrounding the expo is to step forward and face all questions squarely.
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