DPP Taipei city councilors let the city government off easily when, instead of grilling Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) over a report on the Typhoon Nari disaster that sought to whitewash the city government's inadequate and bungled response, they walked out of the chamber.
The long-anticipated report on city disciplinary measures against municipal officials and planned reconstruction projects in the wake of the typhoon was finally made public on Friday.
However, instead of taking the floor to question Ma on the issue, DPP city councilors walked out of the meeting to lodge a protest against what they called a "hasty" and "perfunctory" report. A dramatic action, perhaps, but it also had the effect of letting the city government off the hook.
Chiang Kai-shih (
"How the city government handled the matter was simply perfunctory and that really upset us," Chiang said. "By walking out of the meeting, we distinctly voiced our displeasure."
Before making the move, Chiang made four appeals but all were denied by the council spokeswoman, the KMT's Wu Pi-chu (吳碧珠)
In addition to opposing the mayor taking the floor, copies of Ma's written report were returned. The council was asked to form a task force to conduct another investigation into the the disaster, and the mayor requested to deliver another special report during the next council session.
"Although our requests were denied, we'll make our appeals again on Dec. 3 when the council convenes its next meeting," he said.
Chiang said that Ma simply had been muddling along since the DPP caucus requested him to deliver the special report about two months ago.
They asked him to include causes of the flooding that took place in each district and name who should be held politically, criminally and administratively responsible; and what disciplinary measures should be meted out to those responsible.
"But we were very disappointed to see the report on Tuesday," Chiang said. "We didn't see anything regarding the disciplinary measures we requested. What it said instead was the Control Yuan is investigating the matter.'"
When they planned to hold a press conference the following morning to express discontent, Chiang said another report was received later that day.
Also added to the second report were 20 municipal officials and staff who were found negligent and disciplined.
They include a garbage truck driver with the Bureau of Environmental Protection, two engineers at the Department of Rapid Transit Systems, a driver attached to the Chungshan District Office, and the president of the Taipei Rapid Transit Corp.
"It was the heaviest deluge ever in the city's history, for God's sake. I have no idea what difference it makes to punish a garbage truck driver," Chiang said.
Typhoon Nari, which ravaged the nation from Sept. 16 to 19, killed 94 people, including 27 in Taipei City.
More than 13 percent of the city's area, or 3,770 hectares covering 197 boroughs, experienced serious flooding.
Eight of the 69 pumping stations built to control flooding along the city's many kilometers of dikes succumbed to the deluge and failed.
Underground sections of the MRT system as well as the system's control center which was located in the basement of the Taipei Main Station were also seriously flooded.
Equipment was so seriously damaged that the entire system will not become fully operational until the middle of next month, nor resume automatic operation until March next year. The control center is not scheduled to fully recover until June next year.
DPP city councilor Wang Shih-chien (王世堅) denied speculation that their boycott of the mayor's report was due to insufficient preparation for the interpellation session.
"The boycott was a result of a game well played out," Wang said. "On one hand, we found the ruling of the spokeswoman was unacceptable, but on the other hand, we had to respect her decision."
If he had not walked out of the meeting, Wang said, he would have asked Ma to set a timetable for post-disaster reconstruction projects.
"I'd like to know whether he means it when it comes to the materialization of the proposals made by the reconstruction committee or if it's just another political smokescreen," he said.
After a week's review and discussion, the reconstruction committee made 15 proposals, including suspending the development of hillside areas, establishing city- and district-level disaster response units, integrating the notification system of disaster information, completing the construction of dikes, and full resumption of the MRT service and the system's control center.
Another DPP city councilor, Chou Po-ya (
"Don't think that things end here when the mayor offered his apology," he said.
Ma apologized to the public while delivering the report and said that he was willing to assume political responsibility for the disaster.
"It's a man-made rather than a natural disaster, and it's a serious one," Chou said.
The city first underestimated the volume of rainfall before the typhoon struck. Then it overesti-mated its relief capability during and after the disaster, he said.
"Tell me what's the point of issuing evacuation warnings on TV when most of the families didn't have any electricity," he said. "Tell me how come the fire department's million-dollar emergency notification system failed while thousands of city residents tried to call in for help."
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