Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said yesterday that her party would like to see the administration of Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) divert money from its economic stimulus package to refund taxpayers and subsidize disadvantaged groups.
In response to Premier Liu Chao-shiuan’s (劉兆玄) remarks on Tuesday questioning whether it was appropriate to do so because the government needed to borrow money to fund the package, Tsai said that the government had a surplus of tax money and did not necessarily need to borrow money.
Tsai made the remarks during a question-and-answer session at the party’s Central Standing Committee meeting in Chiayi County yesterday afternoon.
Commenting on the performance of Ma and his administration, Tsai said she hoped they were not being too hasty in formulating policies.
”While the administration should formulate long-term, sustainable policies, the public sometimes has the impression that they are formed for election reasons,” she said. “As an opposition party, we must point this out and remind them of the possible consequences.”
Former DPP chairman Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) said during the committee meeting that Ma owed the public an apology if his administration borrowed money to fund its economic stimulus plan.
The plan will worsen inflation and the recent hikes in fuel prices have only exacerbated the situation, he said.
Hsieh said it made sense for the administration to adopt the DPP’s proposal to refund money to taxpayers and that if the government did not use the money wisely, the jobless rate would likely jump to 4.5 percent in September.
Hsieh said Ma’s declining approval ratings indicated that the public was disappointed and felt cheated because Ma had failed to deliver on his election promises.
Farmers in the south were most dissatisfied with Ma because they bore the brunt of inflation and they had hoped the change of government would improve the economy and their living standards, Hsieh said.
”But it has taken no time for them to realize that things have turned out to be exactly the opposite,” he said. “Ma should value those who have high expectations of him.”
He said civil servants, long regarded as strong supporters of KMT, might be the next group to backlash if he failed to do so.
Hsieh made the remarks in response to a media inquiry about a poll made public by the DPP yesterday.
Of more than 1,000 Chiayi residents surveyed in the poll, 53 percent said they were dissatisfied or very dissatisfied with Ma’s performance, while only 34 percent said they were satisfied.
Hong Kong singer Andy Lau’s (劉德華) concert in Taipei tonight has been cancelled due to Typhoon Kong-rei and is to be held at noon on Saturday instead, the concert organizer SuperDome said in a statement this afternoon. Tonight’s concert at Taipei Arena was to be the first of four consecutive nightly performances by Lau in Taipei, but it was called off at the request of Taipei Metro, the operator of the venue, due to the weather, said the organizer. Taipei Metro said the concert was cancelled out of consideration for the audience’s safety. The decision disappointed a number of Lau’s fans who had
A tropical depression east of the Philippines became a tropical storm early yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, less than a week after a typhoon barreled across the nation. The agency issued an advisory at 3:30am stating that the 22nd tropical storm, named Yinxing, of the Pacific typhoon season formed at 2am. As of 8am, the storm was 1,730km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, with a 100km radius. It was moving west-northwest at 32kph, with maximum sustained winds of 83kph and gusts of up to 108kph. Based on its current path, the storm is not expected to hit Taiwan, CWA
Commuters in Taipei picked their way through debris and navigated disrupted transit schedules this morning on their way to work and school, as the city was still working to clear the streets in the aftermath of Typhoon Kong-rey. By 11pm yesterday, there were estimated 2,000 trees down in the city, as well as 390 reports of infrastructure damage, 318 reports of building damage and 307 reports of fallen signs, the Taipei Public Works Department said. Workers were mobilized late last night to clear the debris as soon as possible, the department said. However, as of this morning, many people were leaving messages
A Canadian dental assistant was recently indicted by prosecutors after she was caught in August trying to smuggle 32kg of marijuana into Taiwan, the Aviation Police Bureau said on Wednesday. The 30-year-old was arrested on Aug. 4 after arriving on a flight to Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, Chang Tsung-lung (張驄瀧), a squad chief in the Aviation Police Bureau’s Criminal Investigation Division, told reporters. Customs officials noticed irregularities when the woman’s two suitcases passed through X-ray baggage scanners, Chang said. Upon searching them, officers discovered 32.61kg of marijuana, which local media outlets estimated to have a market value of more than NT$50 million (US$1.56