Former vice president Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) yesterday criticized the merger and upgrade of cities and counties into four new special municipalities, saying poor planning was bound to undermine the development of the country.
Lu said she regretted the fact that neither the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) nor the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) had seriously considered the many problems the four new special municipalities would face after they are merged or upgraded at the end of the year.
The four new special municipalities are Sinbei City (新北市, the upgraded Taipei County), Greater Taichung (a merger of Taichung City and Taichung County), Greater Tainan (a merger of Tainan City and Tainan County) and Greater Kaohsiung (a merger of Kaohsiung City and Kaohsiung County).
Elections for the heads of the five special municipalities will take place on Nov. 27.
Lu said the central government needed to explain the reasoning behind the administrative reorganization.
“I want to know how such a design will benefit the country's development ... Is it a change for better or for worse?” she said.
Lu said that the country's sustainable development could be undermined if there is no well-thought-out plan in place to deal with potential problems in the new municipalities in such areas as finances, hiring and future development.
Now that both the DPP and KMT have announced their candidates for the year-end elections, Lu said she expected them to explain to voters in clear language how they plan to govern their constituencies and make them better places.
When asked whether DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) might be too preoccupied with her own campaign to stump for other candidates, Lu said she believed Tsai was a smart individual who knew how to handle the situation.
There has been some criticism of Tsai for not being a local of Sinbei City, but Lu said Tsai's KMT opponent Eric Chu (朱立倫) and other candidates from both camps had the same problem. It would be up to the voters to decide whether the candidates were carpetbaggers she said.
Lu urged individuals looking to the presidential election in 2012 to focus on the November elections, because “those who ignore the roses in front due to an obsession with the rainbow in the distance are likely to lose both.”
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