President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday asked the Executive Yuan to present a concrete plan to revive the nation’s professional baseball within a month.
In addition to designating next year as the start of a campaign to rejuvenate the national sport, Ma asked the Executive Yuan to form a task force, with Vice Premier Eric Chu (朱立倫) serving as the convener.
Ma chaired a national baseball conference at the Presidential Office yesterday morning after 800 fans of professional baseball took to the streets around the Presidential Office on Sunday. Demonstrators appealed to the government to hold the conference following recent game-fixing scandals.
Ma said the mission of the task force was to integrate opinions gathered from yesterday’s meeting and to map out a plan within a month to resuscitate the ailing sport.
Among the participants at the meeting were Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義), representatives from the professional league, baseball fans, academics and Sunday’s protesters.
During the two-and-a-half-hour meeting, Ma said his administration had resolved to address the match-fixing problem and make every effort to provide the best environment possible to “revive the glory” of the sport.
“It is not only professional baseball’s problem, but also the government’s,” he said. “The government will not remain an indifferent spectator.”
Ma said that while he did not expect to resolve the decades-long problem in two hours, it was more effective to prevent game-fixing than to conduct investigations.
“To be able to prevent it is more significant than to catch it,” he said. “And to be able to catch it is more important than to punish it.”
Ma promised last Thursday to amend the Sports Lottery Issue Act (運動彩券發行條例) to toughen the penalty for match-fixing, but yesterday he said he would leave the matter to the task force.
“If the penalty is too high, judges are likely to convict less people,” he said. “Legal revisions will take time, but it is possible. We will be happy to do it if it is effective.”
Ma also suggested that the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) team up with the baseball league and individual teams, deploy manpower to monitor the players and keep close contact with law enforcement offices.
On whether the government will offer tax breaks to those interested in investing in the sport or encourage state-owned businesses to fund professional baseball, Wu said the government would “consider all possibilities” to reduce the burden on baseball teams.
Yu Tsung-ming (余宗鳴), initiator of the Action Alliance of Baseball Fans Who Cannot Take It Anymore (球迷凍未條行動聯盟), said he realized many problems need to be addressed and could not be resolved overnight, but that he was disappointed with a recent MOJ report that he said only rehashed past cases. The ministry also failed to propose any solutions, he said.
Another alliance member, who preferred to be identified as Wen Ge (文哥), said although he thought Ma was “sincere,” he did not see any goals, details, concrete proposals or timetables set at the meeting.
“It remains to be seen whether the plan will materialize,” he said. “If it fails to meet the expectations of the fans, we do not rule out using other means to push our agenda.”
Meanwhile, at a separate setting yesterday, Sports Affairs Council Chairwoman Tai Hsia-ling (戴遐齡) said she was confident that the Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) would continue next year.
“So far, none of the four professional baseball teams are likely to withdraw. And for now, we are not considering adding more teams,” she said.
Tai said that the council bears the responsibility of saving the nation’s baseball industry. She added, however, that the council cannot subsidize professional baseball because it is a commercial enterprise. The council can only subsidize the part of the sport that involves public interests.
Tai said the council only allocated about NT$6.3 million (US$196,000) to support baseball this year. Starting next year, the council would appropriate NT$110 million annually, she said.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY SHELLEY SHAN
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