This is huge: Next Magazine says Ma Administration is using the security forces to spy on Tsai, naming 28 agents (Taipei Times report):According to the Next Magazine report, Weng Shih-tsan (翁詩燦), director of the NSC’s Secretariat, attended an intelligence meeting organized by the Investigation Bureau last week and took away information related to the presidential election, before submitting the information to Ma via Hu.Anyone who has followed the KMT's use of the security agencies throughout the nation's history will not be surprised at this report....
The magazine’s report named 28 senior agents at the bureau, who it said were given the task of monitoring Tsai and submitting weekly reports on the times, locations and the attendees at Tsai’s campaign events.
The magazine said agents also made evaluations on the influence of local politicians or businesspeople who met with Tsai — KMT members and non-partisan representatives in particular — and predicted how many votes were at stake if they offered their support to Tsai.
It also cited an unidentified high-ranking official at the National Security Bureau (NSB) as saying that the NSC and Hu had ignored the intelligence system’s chain of command.
In response to the report, the NSC said that while it did send Weng to the meeting, he did not take any information away and no information had been submitted to Hu and Ma.
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19 comments:
"Anyone who has followed the KMT's use of the security agencies throughout the nation's history will not be surprised at this report...."
Exactly. That's why I really doubt how much "negative" effect this is going to have to KMT's campaign. Hardly a surprise, to everyone.
Anyone surprised?
If this is in the media (though its a magazine) I wonder how this will impact Ma's chances.
At the very least, do you think anyone is bothered by the fact that taxes which probably pay the salaries of these people are being used for Ma's personal reasons? If true, I would think it would be a good reason to investigate illegal use of government resources.
Your tax dollars at work!
This is a 2-3% story. What I mean by that is it will swing that small percentage towards Tsai, no more and no less. These happen frequently in election cycles and have pretty predictable effects, regardless of country.
The effect normally doesn't last beyond a certain time period but this one is close enough to the election that it should still carry some voters. As such, a definite blunder by the Ma campaign. Recovery time is getting very short and this election is tight.
In any other country, I would be inclined to think this would do damage to Ma. In Taiwan...?
As mentioned widely in Taiwanese TV media: there was NO denial by the security forces that the information was collected, only that it was shown to the president. This is Watergate, only Ma Ying-jeou has a cow hide for a face and doesn't give a shit that he just had his hand in the cookie jar and it's rotten as shit.
NEXT magazine seems anti-KMT for this election.
Steve,
As of right now, I agree with you that it's a 2/3%er. But if more comes out then it's much bigger.
But some news organization has to dig it up. There's still time, but not much.
NJ said: NEXT magazine seems anti-KMT for this election.
I get more of a anti-Ma feeling than anti-KMT. Hasn't he made prodigious enemies inside and outside his party?
Ma Ying-jeou has managed to conduct a dirtiest campaign in the presidential election history of Taiwan. First the government orchestrated a double-forgery to frame Tsai, now the government send spies to collect Tsai's info.
NEXT magazine is not really anti-KMT; it's just pro-DIRT and the KMT just has more of it. I'm sure somebody's secretary is gonna do some time over this.
This is a bunch of BS fom DPP. Tsai is trailing in all polls, DPP is getting desparate. Therefore, it is inventing another rumor to smear KMT.
Andrew:【NEXT magazine is not really anti-KMT; it's just pro-DIRT】
The DIRT is now the most powerful political party in Taiwan ... :)
Yes, NEXT loves to dig up dirt, the problem is that often they get shit rather than dirt. But in this case I think there is sufficient evidence to support their claims.
Message for DPP:
Let the media take this for now and finish the campaign showing why Taiwanese people are (a) not better off after 4 years of Ma (b) Why Ma's policies are detrimental to Taiwanese sovereignty and economic sustainability (c) Why the KMTs numbers mean squat to average Taiwanese (d) Why the DPP approach is the better vision for all Taiwanese in the long term.
These issues should take center stage to bring the election back to the dinner table and away from the tabloids. It is hard for people to get cynical about bread and butter issues.
Next Magazine is, to say the least, not exactly a credible source. We'll have to wait and see if anything actually comes out of this.
There are couple of sources say that it's real. They said that it was revealed by high level of the investigation bureau, most probably due to infighting:
影音：媒體人黃敬平指出調查局監控是真的
I think the problem is that, real or not, there is enough of a credibility problem with Next that it is easy to brush the story off. Then there is the stupid decision of the Tsai campaign to stir up the Fubon thing. Consequently, it is too easy for the Ma campaign to say it is just a case of negative campaigning.
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