Chang Jin-sheng (
Angry at what they called his arrogance over the Cabinet's job creation project, the opposition caucuses said he is not welcome in the legislature.
They also vowed to shut down all future cross-party talks with the Cabinet unless Lin Hsin-i (
TAIPEI TIMES FILE PHOTO
Chang had reportedly told the media on Thursday that the opposition parties would be the ones to blame for weakening the economy.
He was quoted as saying that the opposition parties should shoulder the responsibility for causing economic growth to drop by 0.38 percent should they fail to pass the NT$50 billion budget for a public construction program this legislative session.
Although the drama ended after Chang said he had not accused the opposition parties of boycotting the bill, he has constantly found himself between his ideals and reality.
One of the immediate examples is the Ministry of Economic Affairs' proposal to build an exhibition hall in Nankang, Taipei City.
Claiming that it is uneconomical to use most of the nation's resources to develop the capital city, Chang has called for changing the site from Taipei City to somewhere else such as Taoyuan County or Taipei County.
His opinion, however, met with opposition from Lin, who said that the government's plan to build the exhibition hall in Nankang, Taipei City, remains unchanged.
The controversy broke out last month when Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (
The ministry had originally planned to use government funding to build a three-in-one complex -- an exhibition hall, a hotel and a shopping mall -- in the economic and trade park in Nankang.
The ministry has spent almost NT$10 billion on preparations for construction of the center, including NT$9.3 billion on the acquisition of land.
The council will decide in one month the final location for the facility and whether the government will build the project on its own or seek private investors to jointly accomplish the task.
Another example is the Cab-inet's plan to allow the private sector to build and manage national freeways.
Chang had reportedly bypassed his supervisors, Lin and Premier Yu Shyi-kun, and sold the idea directly to President Chen Shui-bian (
Caught off guard while inspecting infrastructure in Hualien County last April, Yu was forced to make the announcement that the Cabinet is considering the possibility of allowing the private sector to build and manage national freeways in the future.
Yu claimed that he had discussed the matter with the president and Minister of Transportation and Communications Lin Ling-san (林陵三) and that both of them expressed their support for the idea.
The relationship between Chang and Chen runs deep.
Chang, who has a doctorate in urban building and planning from National Taiwan University, was recruited by Chen to head the urban development bureau when Chen was Taipei City mayor.
When Chen lost his re-election bid in 1998, Chang joined the Taichung City Government as deputy mayor.
Chang drafted Chen's urban planning white paper in the run-up to the presidential election in 2000 and was appointed vice chairman of the Council for Economic Planning and Development in May 2000 when Chen came to power.
Although Chang is full of creative ideas, has has trouble putting them into practice.
"It's one thing to be an academic and another to be a politician," said Huang Chuang-shia (黃創夏), a veteran journalist who has been covering the council and the Cabinet for over 15 years.
Huang cited the example of trying to push for the transfer of development rights when he was the head of Taipei City's Urban Development Bureau.
Chang was censured by the Control Yuan for formulating a lax policy.
Although Huang said that he recognizes Chang's capability and creativity, he said Chang has a personal flaw.
"His biggest problem is that he's too proud," Huang said. "I remember when he was having his first official luncheon with the media after being appointed deputy head of the CEPD, he was bragging about his innovative idea of relocating the Sungshan Airport from Taipei City to Sunchih, Taipei County."
The reason behind it reportedly was to sabotage the fengsui of the city and prevent the KMT from returning to power.
Hsia Chu-joe (
"He's the one and only graduate student of the graduate institute of building and planning who was admitted to pursue his doctorate without a thesis," Hsia said.
Hsia attributed Chang's current plight to the Chen administration, which he said is clueless about using the right people.
"While he's a brilliant and smart young man, I don't think he's in the right place," Hsia said. "You simply cannot expect him to do anything big while the entire decision-making process is flawed."
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