Thu, Nov 21, 2002 page1

• Disappointed DPP lawmakers attack`bogus farmers'

  • By Crystal Hsu / STAFF REPORTER
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  The issue of whether and how to shake up grassroots credit institutions continued to grip the legislature yesterday as DPP lawmakers slammed a few "bogus farmers" for seeking to stall reforms to protect their vested interests.

  The TSU legislative caucus, which has asked farmers and fishermen to call off a mass protest this weekend, said the organizers are now divided, with hawkish members having the upper hand.

  The PFP, meanwhile, said it has canceled a top mobilization order to avoid charges the party is using the demonstration to discredit the government.

  But the opposition party continued to question the government's resolve to look after the farmers, noting that next year's fiscal budget fails to list NT$150 billion in agriculture funds as promised.

  Disappointed at the Cabinet's policy reversal, several DPP lawmakers held a joint news conference yesterday to insist on the need for reform.

  DPP Legislator Hong Chi-chang (洪奇昌) said the public should draw distinctions between the farmers' associations and their credit departments.

  "The effort to straighten out troubled credit units is not an attempt to destroy the associations altogether," he said. "It is corrupt officials at those associations that are the real enemies of farmers. Over the years, many of them have taken advantage of their posts and secured loans for their cronies without sufficient collateral."

  Aggregate non-performing loans accumulated by these units amounted to NT$137 billion as of June this year, up from NT$72.3 billion in 1996, official data show.

  Chiu Tai-san (邱太三), another DPP legislator, said only 15 percent of the loans approved by the units go to farmers, with the bulk, 68 percent, borrowed by so-called "sponsors of the associations."

  "Over the years, managers of these associations have siphoned off the savings of farmers and refused reform to protect their entrenched interests," he said. "Greedy and prone to corruption, they must not be taken as the entire farming community."

  Leaders from the country's 304 farmers' and fishermen's associations have said they will go ahead with a massive protest in Taipei on Saturday even though the government agreed on Sunday to suspend its risk-control measures.

  More than 100,000 farmers and fishermen are expected to attend the demonstration partly to highlight their slumping standard of living, a phenomenon that has been compounded by Taiwan's entry to the WTO.

  DPP Legislator Kuo Chun-ming (郭俊銘) said two association managers in his home county of Taichung have been sentenced to five-year jail terms for fraud.

  Other lawmakers conceded that the suspended three-tier risk-control mechanism is too complicated.

  To address the problem, they suggested the government simplify the reform policy under which managers of these associations may not interfere with the management of their credit units.

  They argued that all financial institutions, big or small, should be placed under the jurisdiction of a financial supervisory board.

  The Cabinet has promised to make the Council of Agriculture the regulatory agency of grassroots credit units.

  In other developments, TSU Legislator Lo Chih-ming (羅志明) said former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) had not stopped talking with the protest organizers, who have said it is too late to cancel the demonstration.

  "Though some are inclined to reciprocate the government's conciliatory gesture, others insist on going ahead with the protest," Lo told reporters.

  He said the latter group's voice is louder, in part as a result of encouragement from the opposition KMT and PFP.

  The legislator said the KMT paid for a half-page ad in a Chinese-language newspaper Tuesday that urges all discontented farmers, fishermen, students, intellectuals and other groups to join the rally planned for Saturday.

  The PFP caucus, echoing the plea to de-politicize the coming event, said it has revoked a top mobilization order pressing its members and supporters to take part in the protest.

  But PFP Legislator Thomas Lee (李桐豪) cast doubt on the Cabinet's determination to take care of the farmers and fishermen, saying he failed to see some NT$150 billion in agricultural aid in the budget plan for next year.

  Officials have pledged the funding to improve the welfare of the two groups.

  PFP Legislator Chou Hsi-wei (周錫瑋) said he doubted the Council of Agriculture is capable of overseeing grassroots credit units given the council's lack of financial experts.
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