Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (
Ma also accused the central government of neglecting society's demands for the truth about the shooting of President Chen Shui-bian (
"The central government rushed to do things that it was not supposed to do, yet it failed to do things that really need to be taken care of," Ma said yesterday.
Ma, who is also vice chairman of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), said he suspected that the investigative panel that has been set up to investigate the shooting was low level and had little power. He urged Chen to quickly establish an investigative committee.
State Public Prosecutor-General Lu Jen-fa (
"I maintain that an independent and high-level investigative committee should be set up to investigate the shooting, just as the US Supreme Court did when handling the JFK assassination. Only by doing so can people be convinced of the result," Ma said.
When asked by the media about the events on Saturday night following a huge protest organized by the pan-blue camp, Ma acknowledged that he received two phone calls on Sunday morning at about 1am from Chang Si-liang (
Ma said Chang offered to act on Ma's behalf to disperse the crowd, which numbered about 1,000 at the time, and had refused to leave Ketagalan Boulevard even though the rally was legally over at 6pm. Ma said he turned down Chang's suggestion.
Much of the crowd voluntarily moved to the nearby Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall plaza, but a few hundred had to be dragged or pushed away.
Ma yesterday said that "it was strange for the NPA to have its hand in the dispersion at the last minute."
"I think it was illegal, unfeasible and unnecessary for the NPA to intervene in the dispersion," Ma said, stressing that the city government had handled the protests for one week and the police and the crowd "had developed a good interaction."
Besides, the city government had planned to disperse the crowd with placatory measures, he added.
"I can't imagine what would have happened if the central government had come in at the last minute," Ma said.
The pan-blue supporters had been blocking Ketagalan Boulevard in front of the Presidential Office for one week after KMT Chairman Lien Chan (連戰) claimed that the presidential election was unfair and that he would file a lawsuit to nullify the election.
At various points during the week, the crowd had broken the Assembly and Parade Law (集會遊行法), but Ma refused to disperse them and eventually issued permits for them to demonstrate legally.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
RSS