Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (
People First Party (PFP)"Chairman James Soong (
One of the priorities agreed to during his meeting with Soong on Monday, Ma said, was for the two parties' caucus to push for the revision of the Statute Governing the Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (
PHOTO: CNA
Another priority would be to hammer out a pan-blue version of the civil service pension plan in the face of the government's efforts to overhaul the 18 percent special interest rate given to retired civil servants, military personnel and teachers.
"Hopefully the caucus will keep a beneficial competitive relationship with others in the pan-green camp, and there won't be any vicious fights in the legislature," he said.
Ma used yesterday's meeting to congratulate four legislators who won local government seats in the Dec. 3 elections.
"Although the KMT lost four seats in the legislature, the population of the four cities and counties was 5.8 million, which makes up 26 percent of the total population, so I think it is worthwhile," he said.
Changhwa County commissioner-elect Cho Po-yuan (
He also urged the caucus to exercise its power to ease the financial difficulties of the local government.
Taipei County commissioner-elect Chou Hsi-wei (
"The total decoration budget for the new county commissioner is NT$99,000. I don't know how the newspaper came up with the NT$1 million rumor," he said.
As one of his campaign promises, Chou said he will move out of the "luxurious office" on the 18th floor of the county government building, and use a much smaller space on the 17th floor instead.
Chou said he did not have power over any county policies yet, including office decor. He promised to make use of the building in the most efficient way.
Ma said the KMT will keep an eye on the matter since the party "campaigned for him and backed him up during the election."
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