The Presidential Office said yesterday that President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) trip to Kinmen would be paid for by both the office and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) to prevent the public from thinking Ma does not distinguish between state and party affairs.
Presidential Office Spokesman Wang Yu-chi (王郁琦) said fuel expenses for the trip would be split because six KMT officials traveled with Ma as he visited Kinmen, Hualien and Hsinchu yesterday because he attended party events in the latter two places. Ma serves concurrently as KMT chairman.
Ma traveled to Kinmen to mark the 60th anniversary of the battle of Kuningtou (古寧頭) in which Nationalist Army troops stopped the People’s Liberation Army from taking the island and threatening Taiwan proper.
PHOTO: PATRICK LIN, AFP
KMT spokesman Lee Chien-jung (李建榮) said splitting the fuel bill would set a precedent for separating party and state affairs. When president, Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) and Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) did not make an effort to institute such a mechanism when they doubled as party chairman, Lee said.
When Chen was president and chairman of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), some entertainers even traveled on the presidential plane free of charge, he said.
Meanwhile, Ma stumbled verbally while stumping for Kinmen County commissioner candidate Lee Wo-shi (李沃士) yesterday, referring to him as Kinmen County Commissioner Li Chu-feng (李炷烽).
In Kinmen County, which has a population of about 85,000, seven candidates are vying for the county commissioner post, the highest number of hopefuls registered for one seat in the December elections.
The hopefuls include Lee Wo-shi and former KMT legislator Wu Cheng-tien (吳成典), who is running as an independent.
From his campaign appearance, Ma rode on a bicycle to Chen Tung Temple (鎮東宮) where he burned incense sticks and sat down to talk with residents. One resident urged the government to allow Kinmen residents to become legal owners of land and properties under their care for long-term absentee owners or land that is now sitting idle.
Speaking in broken Hoklo (also known as Taiwanese), Ma, the Hong Kong-born descendant of Mainlander parents, said Kuningtou played a pivotal role in the history of the Republic of China because without it, there would not be Taiwan and the country would be ruled by the Chinese Communist Party.
He said his administration would study the land problems and possibility of increasing the compensation to residents who suffered losses during the battle.
Ma also pledged to eradicate vote-buying and corruption, saying during his term as minister of justice in 1993, he heard it cost NT$1,500 to buy one vote in Kinmen.
Given the island’s small population, it wouldn’t cost much for a candidate to purchase his victory,” he said.
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