What Obsessions Leave Out

I was reading with grim amusement the conclusion of local doctors printed in the Taipei Times that Taiwanese are basically borderline insane, and thinking of all the things wrong with it, and then I recalled the constant flow of news at the Kuomintang News Network (KNN) and its obsession with Chen Shui-bian, and realized there might be something in it:

First Ten KNN Headlines in General News at 7:00 pm today (Chen Shui-bian-related news in Green):

Political Commentator Questioned about E...
Next Magazine: Chen Chih-chung Laundered...
News Analysis: Ah-Bian’s Close Aide Ma Y...
Frank Hsieh: Ah-Bian Should Quietly Wait...
President Ma Interviewed on FTV
MOEA to Propose a Special District to At...
Lin Chuan to Appear Before Siu
Direct Cross-Strait Sea Transport to Beg...
The SIU Subpoenaed Chiou I-jen and Summo...
The KMT Caucus Proposes Heavier Punishment for Bribery

All the things happening on the island, and 6 of 10 pieces in the General News are about Chen Shui-bian, with another tangentially related. If that isn't borderline obsessive, I don't know what is. Note that of the others, two are about China relations and one on Ma -- for the last six months the KMT has basically been pushing Chen and China.

What's left out? Stories like this one that made the rounds of local environmental blogs last month:

Taipower Coal Purchasing Documents Audaciously Stolen on the Eve of Control Yuan Investigation

atnext.com, 12 November 2008

Taiwan's national power company, Taipower, under the leadership of the Ma Ying-jeou Administration, has been alleged to have purchased overpriced fuel coal, causing protracted overpricing of power bills to the country's consumers. Strangely enough, just as Taiwan's national governmental watchdog body, the Control Yuan, was preparing to launch an investigation, the storehouse in which Taipower keeps the files of its external purchasing contracts was burglarized. Even stranger, the only documents stolen in the burglary were the fuel coal purchase agreement documents. The peculiar circumstances of the theft have led to speculation that the burglary was aimed at making evidence disappear.

According to a report in the latest issue of Next Magazine, the Consumer's Foundation had asked the Control Yuan earlier this month to investigate concerns that continuing high power prices, despite a recent 44.65% drop in fuel costs, might indicate foul play. Although the prices of liquefied petroleum gas and fuel oil have both fallen considerably, Taipower has refused to lower power prices, which have gone up twice this year. These circumstances have led the Consumer's Foundation to suspect negligence or malfeasance by Taipower and Ministry of Economic Affairs, prompting the request for a Control Yuan investigation.

The Control Yuan member on duty the day the Control Yuan filed its request, Cheng Jen-hung, formally opened a Control Yuan case with a written recommendation for an on-site investigation. In the lead-up to the investigation, Taipower stated its case to the Control Yuan, but the Control Yuan found the explanations unsatisfactory. Just as the formal investigation was about to get underway, Taipower's document storage room was burglarized, and the document stolen was an important piece of evidence targeted in the Control Yuan investigation. The theft of the document has further fed suspicions that behind-the-scenes forces are at work in the case.


膽大妄為！監院調查前夕　台電購煤文件遭竊
2008年 11月 12日 11:32/壹蘋果網絡
馬政府執政的台電，被外界質疑採購燃煤的價格過高，致使電價高居不下，監察院剛進行分案準備展開調查之際，存放台電對外採購合約文件檔案的倉庫，居然發生了竊案。更弔詭的是，整起竊案只有採購燃煤的合約文件遭竊，整個竊案透露了不尋常的訊息，似乎有人想藉竊案讓許多證據消失無蹤。

根據最新一期《壹周刊》報導指出，本月初消基會前往監察院提出陳情，針對液化石油氣與燃料油價格都已大幅降價，但電價今年卻連續調漲二次，加上目前燃料成本約有四四．六五％的跌幅，台電卻還堅持無法降價，認為台電及經濟部官員有明顯的失職，要求監察委員能調查是否有人謀不臧。

當天的輪值監委程仁宏接受了這項陳情案，並寫下派查建議，這就代表監察院已正式立案，並會派監委進行調查，相對的，台電公司事先向監院說明的理由並未被監院接受，全案依法由監院進入行政調查。萬萬沒想到，在監察院依程序進行分案的同時，台電存放檔案的文件室遭竊，且遭竊文件就是監院所要調查的重要物件，整個竊案似乎說明了另有「隱情」。


[Taiwan]