Saturday, May 20, 2006

Ma and KMT corruption

If Ma Ying-jeou, the Chairman of the KMT, mayor of Taipei, and KMT fair-haired boy, has a weakness, it is the fact that the KMT's longstanding links to local faction machines force him to endorse again and again individuals who appear to be slimy. Today's Taipei Times has criticisms of Ma from the TSu for supporting a candidate for mayor of Keelung whom Ma knew to have issues...

"Ma owes an apology to Keelung's citizens, as they may have made the wrong decision to vote for Hsu because of Ma's recommendation," Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) Legislator Chen Chien-ming (陳建銘) told a news conference. Chen vied with Hsu for the Keelung mayorship last year.

Hsu, who was re-elected last year, was indicted on charges of corruption by the Keelung District Prosecutors' Office on Thursday.

The prosecutors said in the indictment that Hsu's decision to buy a piece of land for the city's bus park was made for his personal benefit.

"Ma should have known that Hsu had a problem of integrity, as Hsu was indicted before when Ma was justice minister. Ma should give Hsu a stern reprimand," TSU Legislator David Huang (黃適卓) said.

People First Party (PFP) Legislator Liu Wen-hsiung (劉文雄), who also vied with Hsu in the election, also demanded Ma's apology, saying that "citizens of Keelung were deceived by Hsu and Ma into thinking that Hsu would be a good mayor."

"Integrity is a basic requirement for a public servant, but Hsu lacks even that," Liu said.


The System is such that businessmen need to purchase politicians in order to make the system work. And thus, no matter who is in charge, the System goes on...

It will be interesting to see whether any of the KMT mud will eventually stick to Ma. He's taken fire for his support of corrupt local candidates before, without ill effects. One funky comment here: The TSU politico alleges that Hu was indicted before Ma was Justice Minister. That was in the early 1990s...the wheels grind slow around here!

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Heh, one of the campaign promises of this now disgraced politician was that he would only serve one term and not seek re-election. Makes you wonder kind of backroom deals were struck in order to let him campaign to retain his office.

Anonymous said...

Ma and KMT support 'black gold'. Anyone that refused to give Taiwan a new charter with a working political system support 'black gold' because Taiwan's current political system encourage corruption.

Taiwan can have a new charter without changing the 'Status Quo'. Those that are against new charter are ACTUALLY the people that are slowly changing the 'Status Quo'.

US don't care what version of charter we have as long as we keep the 'Status Quo'. In fact, US should help Taiwan in our quest for a workable new charter without changing the 'Status Quo'.

We'll also talk about unification under agreeable condition on our term if that's possible in the future! The point is Taiwanese people will decide on that!!

Iron_Jackal_TW

MJ Klein said...

No, the point is, Taiwanese people will be subjugated by China after an annex that cannot be stopped by anything on earth. Are you ready for this eventuality? Efforts put into anything else except preparation for this inevitable outcome are worthless.

Michael Turton said...

What are you talking about? I didn't rant about corruption in the KMT. IN fact, I pointed out in the post above that the problem is systemic and goes beyond parties. In the post on Chen's son I recommended he be investigated and imprisoned. What is your problem?

Michael Turton said...

alcoola, it's not expressing sympathy to note that the possibilities. That's called "analysis." My analysis is that this won't hurt Chen because he is already so low. I also know that at some point Chen will likely get a bounce because people start to feel sympathetic for people who are constantly under fire. I thought this might be a good time. Analyzing things doesn't mean I approve of them.

I've posted many times on corruption problems in the DPP. For example, most recently on Chen's son-in-law! But the problem I see is a System problem and can only be cured by changing the System.

Michael

MJ Klein said...

the system in Taiwan will change, and the color that will rule it forever is RED. this is what happens when petty politicians convert power into wealth.