Sat, Dec 25, 1999 page3

• Mayor Ma Ying-jeou gets less than sterling rating

  SEX AND TRAFFIC A resurgence of the city's sex industry and continuing traffic woes are the main complaints about the mayor's performance

  • By Monique Chu / STAFF REPORTER
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  When Taipei joined Osaka, Japan in second place on Asiaweek magazine's ranking of Asia's most livable cities (Dec. 17 edition), many Taipei residents were stunned.

  Even Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said the results overshot the truth.

  "Does Taipei really deserve the title as the second most livable city in Asia? I don't think so," he said.

  

  Ahead of the first anniversary of Ma's inauguration today, several opinion polls of residents show his efforts to crack down on the sex trade and improve traffic conditions have failed to impress his constituents -- despite official claims to the contrary.

  PHOTO: CHEN CHENG-CHANG, THE LIBERTY TIMES

  New Party city councilor Li Hsin (李新) echoed Ma's view. "This either means outsiders don't really know what's happening here in Taipei or other Asian cities are in shabby shape," Li said.

  Ahead of the first anniversary of Ma's inauguration, which falls today, several opinion polls of residents show his efforts to crack down on the sex trade and improve traffic conditions have failed to impress his constituents, despite official claims to the contrary.

  Sex trade rebound

  A recent survey conducted by the United Daily News of 1,041 Taipei residents found that 37 percent were not satisfied with efforts to crackdown on the sex industry. In contrast, only 26 percent of respondents in a similar survey last January said they were not satisfied.

  Critics say the root of the residents' dissatisfaction lies in the revival of the sex trade as well as less-than-ideal police efforts to crackdown on prostitution.

  "Taipei's sex industry has come creeping back, entering the capital on horseback (a pun on Ma's surname -- 馬, which also means horse -- 騎馬入京城)," said KMT city councilor Fred Chen (王浩).

  A group of KMT city councilors ridiculed the situation earlier this week when they displayed a poster headlined "using all sorts of ways to turn Taipei into a new capital of the sex industry (多管齊下，打造台北色情新都)" as they lambasted city officials in the council chamber.

  Kuo Ching-chung (郭慶鐘), a veteran taxi driver, said many of his middle-aged male passengers -- who identified themselves as customers of the city's sex businesses -- told him the industry has come roaring back since Ma replaced Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) as mayor.

  City councilor Li said he agreed. "One of my constituents in the Ta-an district said soon after Ma took office three hostess bars opened on the lane where he lives," he said.

  City councilors have blasted the city's police for what they said is the lack of serious crackdown on the sex industry, as businesses that are closed down by the city reappear in a different form without much action by the police.

  DPP city councilor Duan Yi-kang (段宜康) said many of the hostess bars in the Tatung district are known for employing tricks such as hiring taxi drivers to take prostitutes and their customers into Taipei County to escape the city police's crackdown.

  "These are facts that everyone knows about. I wonder why the police haven't investigated these cases," Duan said. "The police should have deployed sentries at these places to at least cripple their business."

  City officials and police, however, said the crackdown is continuing without any sign of relaxation.

  "I don't think the results of our crackdown on the sex industry are inferior to those carried out by my predecessor," Ma said.

  Ma said the police found prostitution taking place at 96 hostess bars, sauna parlors and sleazy hotels all of which subsequently had their water and power supplies cut off by the end of November. "Last year, only two had their water and power supplies cut off," Ma said.

  Comparing himself to Chen, who was criticized by some legal experts for lacking a substantiated legal basis for closing down sex trade spots, Ma said he not only emphasizes order as Chen did, but also the law.

  Ma said brothels discovered by the police would be notified before the city cut their utilities. Their owners could then appeal to the city government to have their utilities restored once they reached the legal requirements stipulated by authorities. So far, 35 such businesses have had their water and power supplies restored.

  "Twenty-eight of the 35 places did not go back to their former business [the sex trade], and only five are still under suspicion. But these suspects are under close surveillance and if they ever get involved in the trade again, we will crack down on them," Ma said.

  Wang Chin-wang (王進旺), head of the municipal police department, said the claim that the sex industry is "entering the capital on horseback" has helped the police force maintain their alertness.

  "My colleagues are making strenuous efforts to clamp down on the sex industry," Wang said. "Without our efforts, how would you know that the numbers of prostitution-related detention cases and people involved are greater this year than last?" Wang said.

  Municipal police statistics show 1,366 prostitution-related detention cases this year, involving 1,965 people -- compared with 1,332 cases involving 1,803 people last year.

  Ma also said "the sex trade is not contingent upon who the mayor is. Instead, it depends on the demand of the market."

  Admitting that the sex industry outlets the police have investigated are merely the tip of the iceberg, Ma said he would study the possibility of setting up a red light district in Taipei -- after consulting with the city's female rights promotion committee.

  Traffic still a headache

  During last year's election campaign Ma said he was determined to improve the city's traffic conditions within two years of taking office. But 12 months later, residents and city councilors say they are not that satisfied with the situation.

  The United Daily News' survey showed that while 52 percent of respondents said they were satisfied with the city government's efforts to improve traffic conditions, 42 percent were dissatisfied and 61 percent said they were not satisfied -- an increase of four percentage points from a similar survey in January.

  Tsao Shou-min (曹壽民), director general of the city's transportation bureau, said he was "surprised" by the results.

  He argued that the overall road environment in Taipei has gradually improved as more MRT lines opened this year and most roads are no longer blocked by MRT construction.

  But critics said residents are dissatisfied because of the frequent bus accidents, the recent breakdown of the MRT operating systems and delays in raising roadside parking fees.

  DPP city councilor Jason Ko (柯景昇) said "frequent public bus accidents have harmed people's impression on the city's traffic situation."

  Tsao said that although there were only 440 bus accidents from this January to October of this year -- down from 522 during the same period last year, these accidents could cause ill-feelings about the city's traffic.

  Tsao also admitted the recent frequent breakdowns of the MRT's computing systems could also damage public confidence in public transportation services.

  Chang Tsueh-kung (張學孔), a transportation expert at National Taiwan University, said the city government made a mistake in June by delaying its plan to raise roadside parking fees. The delay indirectly encouraged private vehicle owners to continuing driving, further burdening the city's already busy traffic system, Chang said.

  "The city government should adopt a `push and pull strategy' to improve traffic. That is, stick to the plan to raise the cost to private vehicle users of driving their cars, while improving the public transportation system," he said.

  Tsao said his bureau is still following the directions Ma outlined during his election campaign of adopting the "push and pull strategy." The ultimate goal is to encourage at least 50 percent of residents to make use of the city's public transportation system, he said.

  The bureau is studying the possibility of further integrating the public bus and MRT systems, he added.

  "Leading the city's transportation bureau is like doing a 100-meter dash on a cable wire," Tsao said.

  "But we hope that what we do will benefit the city in the future."

  Please check tomorrow's Taipei Times, when staff reporter Monique Chu looks at Ma's leadership of the city government -- through the eyes of his critics.
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