Lien accuses DPP of `green terror'
KMT Chairman Lien Chan (
The search was conducted on suspicions that a cooking class co-organized by the KMT's Chuchi township branch and an associated local women's group was a scheme to buy votes.
"The government has turned Taiwanese society into something very horrible," Lien said when visiting the party's legislative candidates in Taipei County. "This is what Taiwan's democracy has come to."
Lien said the activity organized by the women's group was routine and was intended to promote community ties among local women.
Lien also said that the right of civil groups to assemble is threatened under the DPP's rule.
"In order to avoid getting into trouble, civil groups now have to submit name lists and the materials they use to authorities whenever they hold an activity," Lien said.
The KMT has traditionally obtained at least 15 percent of its vote support from vote-buying.
Also yesterday, the KMT launched another TV commercial that emphasizes the growing unemployment problem. According to the ad, "the unemployment rate has grown by one-and-a-half-fold in the one and a half years of the DPP's rule."
The commercial features a father and son taking part in a test given to prospective street cleaners -- a job opportunity that has become very competitive as the pool of unemployed people grows.
In the test, would-be applicants are required to carry a 20kg sandbag on their shoulders. The father, however, falls down in the middle of the race, and because the son stops to go over to help him up, both fail the test as a result.
On their way home, the father laments, "The country is going backwards. Of course people can't find a way to make a living."
KMT spokesman Wang Chih-kang (王志剛) said the DPP must not turn a blind eye to the problem of unemployment because it is becoming increasingly severe.
Wang said that when the advertising agency was shooting the campaign commercial, many people thought that the recruitment test was real and expressed an interest in participating.
Opposition blasts plan for stipends
Opposition politicians yesterday criticized the Executive Yuan's plan to issue monthly stipends for the elderly as yet another example of "policy vote-buying."
They insisted that the plan should be carried out by legislation instead of an executive order.
The Executive Yuan has earmarked NT$1.6 billion for the program in its proposed budget for the next fiscal year. It, however, is not prepared to send a bill to the legislature for approval, but has decided to implement the plan with an executive order. The move would prevent the opposition, especially the KMT, from making changes to the program.
The KMT has put forth a bill that sets looser restrictions on the eligibility of beneficiaries, which would end up costing the government NT$5 billion annually.
Lee Cheng-chong (
Lee said restrictions set in the Executive Yuan's proposal are "unjustifiable," because, according to the promise made by President Chen Shui-bian (
Chou Hsi-wei (
Chou said the plan can never be implemented based on an executive order, as its implementation will involve the spending of national revenues and affect the overall welfare of the people.
"The program is one intended to win the votes of elderly people at the expense of other underprivileged groups," Chou said.
Chou pointed out that the government, while marking NT$1.6 billion for the elderly stipend program in next year's fiscal budget, has shrunk the welfare budgets for the mentally and physically challenged, children, adolescents, women, farmers, fishermen and laborers.
PFP Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜), meanwhile, proposed banning policies that may invite suspicion three months before an election on the grounds that they are intended to boost a party's election prospects.
TSU urges Lee not to share the stage
An official of the Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) yesterday said that it would be a bad idea for former president and TSU frontman Lee Teng-hui (
The party's spokesperson, Shu Chin-chiang (蘇進強), said yesterday that the TSU's influence would be "diluted" if Chen and Lee -- the party's spiritual leader -- appear in campaign events together to stump for the pan-green alliance.
"As a smaller party, the TSU can't compete with the DPP in terms of political resources and strength," Shu said.
"Given that competing candidates from both parties will appear together where Chen and Lee share the stage, TSU supporters would be confused about whom to vote for."
Shu's answer was aimed at ending speculation by grassroots supporters of the pan-green force that Chen and Lee should share the stage to give the alliance a shot in the arm.
Proponents of the shared-stage idea said both parties would profit from such a move. They said that because the TSU does not have any candidates in the local government elections, the-appearance of Chen and Lee together should do no harm to either party.
On Thursday, Lee openly endorsed the DPP mayoral candidate Michael Tsai (
Fearing the incident will affect the TSU, Shu said the event happened "by coincidence."
DPP lashes out at opponents' cuts
The DPP yesterday accused opposition lawmakers of cutting the budget for local public infrastructure and funds for school children's high-tech education courses, saying the opposition has forgotten about protecting people's rights.
President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), campaigning yesterday in Ilan County, said that while the DPP government is devoted to increasing the budget to help local administrations improve public facilities, opposition lawmakers just cut the budget in the Legislative Yuan.
"Not only the NT$260 million for local government, which the Cabinet has drafted, but also NT$30 million for primary school students to take high-tech courses," Chen told 10,000 supporters at a rally last night. "Even the NT$20 million for subsidizing national universities was cut."
The president stressed that the opposition alliance simply doesn't want to let the A-bian administration move forward on any policies, adding they still refused to accept the loss of last year's presidential election.
DPP Chairman Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) also lashed out at opposition parties, accusing them of boycotting government budgets aimed at helping the nation's youth and the aged.
Hsieh yesterday held a press conference in Kaohsiung City to condemn the opposition legislators' performance.
"The legislature failed to pass a variety of bills due to the opposition camp's boycotts, which became the DPP's worst nightmare," Hsieh said.
Hsieh added that opposition lawmakers even vetoed the government's NT$600 million draft budget aimed at improving the quality of Internet education in the nation's elementary and primary schools.
Hsieh then urged citizens to vote for the ruling party's candidates in the elections and improve the effectiveness of the legislature.
Prosecutors seize suspected bribes
Prosecutors raided a Taichung County Farmers' Association yesterday and seized about NT$6 million in suspected bribes for the Dec. 1 elections, according to local media reports.
Prosecutor Wu Wen-chung (吳文忠), from the Taichung District Prosecutors' Office, along with more than 20 prosecutors and police, raided the association after receiving a tip-off yesterday morning.
More than 20 bundles of banknotes, totalling about NT$6 million, were found in a car belonging to a section chief of the association.
The names of several townships in Taichung County were written on the packs, prosecutors said. Flyers for a candidate running in the Dec. 1 legislative elections were found with the money, although prosecutors would not say who the candidate was.
KMT legislator Liu Chuan-chung (
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