The Spreading Stain of the Lin Scandal

An employee of a Vietnamese diner in Dongshih counts soups on their way to a local factory.

The bribery scandal involving KMT politician and (former) Executive Yuan Sec-Gen Lin Yi-shih is selling newspapers around the island and giving the talk shows plenty to discuss. Lots of fallout....

For K-town: in the previous post on this mess I rounded some news about how this will impact the KMT's prospects in Kaoshiung. The pro-KMT United Daily News (UDN) has a detailed presentation of the issues that shines a spotlight on how local politics works in Taiwan:

The KMT political factions in Kaohsiung City include the military group, the Red faction and the White faction. Lin Yi-shih belongs to the Red faction. The Red faction has controlled the irrigation associations in Kaohsiung for a long time, but is not in control of most of the rural townships, suburban townships, or the farmers’ associations. The White faction fares better than the Red faction in controlling farmers’ associations in Kaohsiung and also better in controlling the rural townships and suburban townships.

Originally KMT political maneuvering depended on political factions in the old Kaohsiung County (new merged with Kaohsiung City). However, as a result of Lin Yi-shih’s involvement in corruption, the KMT party central must draw a line with the Red faction. Those high-ranking party officials who used to support the Red faction would possibly stay away from political factions in Kaohsiung City, which is not good for the future development of the White faction, either.

From former Kaohsiung City Mayor Frank Hsieh and former Kaohisung County Executive Yang Chiu-hsing to incumbent Kaohsiung City Mayor Chen Chu, the DPP’s main strategy is to take advantage of being Kaohsiung City Mayor and County Executive to fight against the KMT’s party strength. This year, the fact that Lin Yi-shih was defeated by DPP legislator nominee Chiu Chih-wei in the legislative elections reflected a phenomenon that the KMT supported Lin, but local factions stayed on the sidelines, resulting in KMT’s defeat in the legislative election.

The DPP has ruled Kaohsiung City and County for nearly a dozen years or so, causing the KMT’s political factions to fade in Kaohsiung City. Many influential political families have withdrawn from politics in Kaohsiung City, and some of the local hometown associations of former residents from other cities and counties are tilting forward the DPP.

Note that UDN points to KMT control of the irrigation associations as an important component of its southern power base. The South is not solidly pro-DPP but is rather a blue-green checkerboard, with KMT politicians in positions of local authority and able to hand on lucrative public expenditure contracts to their faction members and supporters all over the south.

This incident also shows the effect of the upgrade of the entire county + city to a single municipality. Prior to that the KMT factions in the city had done a good job of contesting the mayoral and city council elections, and the city was split fairly evenly. The hinterland tends to be more pro-DPP in the major elections. Thus, marrying the hinterland to the city may well result in an increase in the DPP ability to win Kaohsiung's council and mayor positions. In the long run, with the DPP able to control lucrative public construction contracts locally and reward its supporters, KMT power even in the local associations will fade, as UDN describes.

The scandal is threatening to widen because of an incriminating tape, released by Next Media, as the pro-Taiwan Taipei Times reported:

In a transcript of a tape released by Next Magazine yesterday — which was also played by several news channels — Lin allegedly asked a businessman for a bribe, saying: “There are a number of weiyuan (委員) whom I have to deal with.”

Based on the conversations, the SID said that although Lin has denied having any accomplices, it now suspects there were others involved in the bribery scandal. It is expected to launch additional raids and interrogations in the next few days.

Chen Chi-hsiang (陳啟祥), head of Ti Yung Co (地勇選礦公司), a metal-recycling company, has accused Lin of accepting a bribe of NT$63 million (US$2.15 million) to help him secure procurement contracts from China Steel Corp (CSC, 中油) and two of its subsidiaries in 2010, and of asking for a further NT$83 million this year.

........

Prosecutors in charge of the case said the key evidence that convinced them that the charges could be true were two recordings of Lin allegedly negotiating with Chen about bribes on Feb. 25 and March 10 this year. Chen handed the tapes over to prosecutors after his company allegedly failed to renew its slag treatment contract with CSC because he refused Lin’s request for a bribe, according to prosecutors. In the recording of a conversation between Chen and Lin on March 10 this year, the voice of Lin’s wife, Peng Ai-chia (彭愛佳), was heard, asking: “Do you want tea?” as Lin and Chen were talking about the bribe at Lin’s residence in Greater Kaohsiung.

The reference to 委員 was taken by local readers and listeners to mean legislators. These remarks caused a firestorm on the talk show circuit, with rumors flying that legislative speaker Wang Jin-pyng, the dapper don of the KMT, was somehow involved (had Lin won the legislative election in K-town he would have been vice-speaker under Wang). Wang's involvement was mentioned in the Next Magazine piece, according to the TT:

Next Magazine reported yesterday that Ma failed to distance himself from the case at the very beginning because he believed Lin when he told him that Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平), who also hails from Greater Kaohsiung, had fabricated the story to tarnish the Ma administration.

Wang and Lin supporters were hurling insults and abuse on the talk shows this week. Wang is said to be a longtime rival of Ma within the KMT, and many Deep Greens out there appear to harbor fantasies that Wang is a deeply closeted Green. Sorry to disappoint, but the real agenda of Wang Jin-pyng is, as far as this writer can see, furthering the advancement of Wang Jin-pyng. What's interesting is that people found it credible that Ma believed Wang made up the story to tarnish his own party. The purpose of that would be....? According to local media reports, the Minister of the Interior warned Ma that investigators had tapes of Lin, and Ma was thus able to distance himself from Lin.

A number of pan-Green outlets ran an interesting commentary yesterday from Jin Heng-wei that described some of the more questionable aspects of the case. Entitled 還好，陳啟祥沒有被特務掉! or something like Luckily, Chen didn't receive special handling -- his case wasn't deep sixed by the prosecutors, although alternatively the author appears to be implying that Chen could have been killed. In the commentary, he writes:

問題是，特偵組有沒有失了先機，故意讓林益世玩弄在股掌上？從陳啟祥揭發林益世索賄，到特偵組北高大搜索，到約談林益世，中間整整浪費了四天；四天的時間足夠林益世湮滅各種證據，也可以完成所有的串供。特偵組查案還能不能查得下去？

He says that four days elapsed between Chen's confession to the bribery and the investigators moving on it.   "Four days are sufficient for Lin Yi-shih to get rid of every bit of evidence," he observes. Finally, the writer asks:

...如果不是事先在媒體曝光，不是罪證確鑿，陳啟祥不會被特務掉？

essentially: if this affair hadn't first exploded in the media, would (the case of) Chen Chi-hsiang have simply been quietly made to disappear?

Hopefully the media and investigators will keep digging. Meanwhile, anyone want to bet against Lin Yi-shih fleeing to China at the first opportunity? What? No takers?

Hey, anyone out there know where Lo Fu-chu is?
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=UPDATED= Yang Chiu-hsing formally announces independent run

First the report:

Kaohsiung County Commissioner Yang Chiu-hsing (楊秋興) yesterday officially launched his election bid for Greater Kaohsiung mayor, a move seen as intensifying a crisis for the opposition party in a traditionally pan-green stronghold.

Yang, who lost the DPP primary in May, launched his campaign in the afternoon, telling dozens of supporters it was his “duty and responsibility” to run as an independent for mayor of Greater Kaohsiung.

“It's a very conflicting decision for me, but now I have made up my mind,” he said. “I have been asked to run by business and religious figures as well as local residents who worry about Kaohsiung falling behind. I have the determination and will to make this city a better place.”

However, more than a dozen consultants with the Kaohsiung County Government resigned in protest upon learning of Yang's decision, saying they could no longer support Yang because the move went against Taiwan's interests and popular opinion.

“How could Yang make this decision when Taiwan's fate hangs in this critical [election],” said a statement signed by 13 senior consultants, including doctors, pro-­independence stalwarts, a university president, a company chief executive and a radio producer.

All 13 had been handpicked by Yang, sources close to the county government said. Representatives from the group said more resignations were expected.

I like to ride a century ride -- 100 miles -- each month. I was so peeved at missing a century on Saturday that today I rode from my house up to Toufen and back, 161 kms, 100 miles. This gave me a lot of time to think. I also had a chance to gather up opinions from lots of smart people who share a common love of The Beautiful Island.

First, Yang quits, and what do we see? Mass resignations among his advisers and appointees. Withdrawals of support from DPP councilpersons in Kaohsiung. Ok, so Yang is a problem -- but his entry into the race was met with a strong show of DPP strength and unity. That should also put the fear of god into others who might want to split from the DPP and go it independent.

What are his chances of winning? He has to know: apparently nil. A DPP poll released the other day said:

If the elections were held tomorrow, the DPP’s candidate, Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊), would win by a more than 30 percent margin, with 53.7 percent of the vote, against 22.6 percent for Yang and 15.3 percent for Huang.

While Huang would still obtain 38.5 percent support among pan-blue voters, Yang would follow a close second with 34.2 percent. On the other hand, the county commissioner would only receive 15.8 percent support from pan-green voters against 80.8 percent for Chen.

An Apple Daily poll similarly said:

A survey conducted on Aug. 3 by the Apple Daily showed that 43.7 percent of the respondents in Kaohsiung favored Chen, while only 27.18 percent and 20.49 percent would vote for Yang and Huang respectively.

Another way to look at it is to note that in the last election held at the county-wide level, the DPP challenger, Yang himself, won by over 100,000 votes. On the other hand, in the last legislative election in 2008, the KMT outpolled the DPP by 30,000 votes. However, much of the anger at Chen Shui-bian that helped fuel the 2008 results has dissipated over time (thank you, once again, KMT, for locking him up so that Tsai could repair the DPP). Also, it was a different level of election. It is hard to see anything other than Chen Chu cruising to victory at this point. Back in May a UDN survey ranked her as the most popular mayor in Taiwan.

What else is going on? Yang has gathered support from Master Hsing Yun, the head of Fuoguangshan, a former KMT central standing committee member, solidly pro-China. In addition, bosses of several large firms have allegedly backed him, including Terry Gou, head of Foxconn/Hon Hai, according to TV reports. These firms expect to benefit from ECFA. It is interesting that when Yang left the DPP, he immediately began spewing KMT talking points, as reported by the KMT news organ:

During yesterday’s interview, Yang said, “The rising of Mainland China’s economy is a fact. Therefore, it is necessary for the DPP to readjust itself. The DPP should not think that both sides of the Strait are still in a state of hostilities and object to everything for the sake of objection merely based on twenty-odd-year-old ideas.”

Yang went on to say, “Small countries should have wisdom in dealing with large countries. On the other hand, big countries have to treat small countries with kindheartedness and magnanimity.” Yang was paraphrasing words by ancient Chinese philosopher Mencius, which are often quoted by President Ma Ying-jeou during talks on cross-Strait relations.

......

Yang stressed yesterday that the disputes between the Blue and the Green camps had lasted for several decades and they had greatly impacted Taiwan’s economy. Yang said that he had gradually changed his mind and chosen “a third way” in the hopes that the Blue and the Green camps could reduce conflicts so that society would become more peaceful and progressive.

During the interview, Yang said that he supported the recently-signed Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) on the condition the number of agricultural products imported from the Mainland not be increased and the government ban the entry of Mainland laborers. Yang said, “If we don’t support the ECFA, Taiwan will become an islolated island.”

In another strange echo of KMT ideals, he also said he wanted to make Kaohsiung like Singapore. It was all uttered as if Yang had never signed off on an anti-ECFA pledge or made other expressions of support for DPP policies. Yang's credibility with DPP voters is probably blown.

Possibilities? Perhaps the KMT will quietly make its own candidate, who can't win, disappear or drop out, thinking maybe it can get its voters to vote for Yang and gather in some DPP votes and maybe get enough votes to lever Yang into office instead of Chen Chu. Or maybe Yang is thinking he can drop out at the last minute and then ask everyone to vote for Chen Chu in exchange for some political deal for a position in the 2012 DPP administration.

Or maybe Yang is just fed up and frustrated and wants to lash out at the DPP. Rumblings of serious trouble have been ongoing. Back in March, for example, Yang accused Chen Chu of using White Terror spying and harassment tactics against him. Stories have circulated that Yang says he ran as independent because he was angry at Chen Chu's treatment of him. Yet there are many ways to respond to such problems, and he chose the worst one of all.

It's a sad loss. Yang had been a competent county magistrate who had garnered much praise from the public. He might have continued as a competent manager in some other post.

Meanwhile in Tainan Mayor Hsu continues to criticize the DPP's primary process, which has caused much division within party ranks, and talk of an independent run.

UPDATE: Yang himself had this to say about his own experience, which he dates to Morakot, according to an interview yesterday on CTI, the pro-KMT cable network:

Kaohsiung County Executive Yang Chiu-hsing yesterday granted an interview to CTI television and stated that he hoped that the DPP would reexamine the course it had chosen to chart, adding he had already done so. Yang said that he had previously been a member of the deep-Green camp, but added, “I would like to apologize to society for my past views and words.”

Moreover, Yang said that, previously, he had indeed suspected that President Ma Ying-jeou would “betray Taiwan,” however, after having spent time with President Ma in the aftermath of the 8/8 Flood, he changed his mind. Consequently, Yang said that he would be remiss if he didn’t publicly correct his past doubts about Ma’s intentions as well as apologize to society for his past ideology.

Yang added that “Taiwan is already an independent country and no one could really sell out Taiwan.”

The Liberty Times also ran a piece today saying that Yang Chiu-hsing had changed during Morakot. During the discussions about what to do with the aborigines Yang had adopted the KMT line that they should not be returned to their villages. Big money was backing that position, as I wrote at the time.

Read that second paragraph there. The entire island watched Ma Ying-jeou say one stupid, ignorant, obnoxious, arrogant, rude thing after another, and watched the indifference of himself and his government in handling that disaster. Yet Yang Chui-hsing became a Ma convert after that.

Yeah right. It had nothing to do with the Big Money that was backing the KMT's position.

But note the date -- this was August of 2009 -- at that time Yang basically says he changed his commitment. Folks, that was a year ago. This whole thing about Chen Chu being arrogant is looking like simply another way to attack and split the DPP, like his adoption of KMT talking points and repudiation of everything he has ever stood for. The litany of complaints dating back months are smoke and mirrors. It also sheds a new light on Chen Chu's behavior if indeed she was arrogant and dismissive of Yang. Perhaps she knew something other observers missed.

Oh yeah, one more thing. Yang formally announced his bid on AUGUST NINTH. One year to the date that he woke up to the blasted landscape of Morakot and KMT leaders crawling all over his turf. What a coincidence that he announced his flip-flop on the anniversary of the day he developed his man-crush on Ma Ying-jeou.

He's been planning this for a year.

What a vicious little joke the date of the announcement is.
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[Taiwan] Don't miss the comments below! And check out my blog and its sidebars for events, links to previous posts and picture posts, and scores of links to other Taiwan blogs and forums!