|
||||||||
|
By
Mo Yan-chih / Staff reporter Thu,
Jul 12, 2012 - Page 3 President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九)
has become increasingly desperate to restore his popularity rating and his
administration’s reputation in the wake of corruption charges involving
former Executive Yuan secretary-general Lin Yi-shih (林益世). Presiding over a Cabinet integrity
forum on Saturday, Ma described the corruption scandal involving Lin as a
humiliation for the administration, blaming one of his most trusted aides for
undermining public trust in the government and damaging the nation’s image. “When I learned that Lin
was involved in a corruption case, I was shocked and saddened. I was really
saddened,” he said. Ma’s comments on the 44-year-old
former Executive Yuan -secretary-general came as Lin was listed as a
defendant for allegedly accepting NT$63 million (US$2.1 million) in bribes
from a businessman to help him secure a contract from a subsidiary of China
Steel Corp, while later asking for NT$83 million more. The scandal has sent Ma’s popularity
ratings, which were already low, plummeting even further, with the latest
poll released by TVBS last week, after the scandal broke, showing an approval
rating of just 15 percent. Ma spoke to officials and
-participated in discussion sessions during the two-hour forum, as he worked
to restore the administration’s reputation. “I have made integrity a
top priority since I served as minister of justice in 1993 and under my
administration fewer public servants have been involved in corruption cases.
However, our hard-earned achievements have been overshadowed by the Lin
case,” he said. While Ma vowed to support
prosecutors’ efforts to uncover the truth in Lin’s case and continue to
defend clean governance, many considered the forum to be yet another occasion
marked by empty slogans and pointless discussions on existing anti-corruption
measures. Political analyst Shih
Cheng-feng (施正鋒) of National Tung Hwa
University said the Lin scandal has not only damaged Ma’s reputation as a
politician of integrity, it also highlighted his abuse of authority in
appointing a trusted aide to the Cabinet, as well as poor crisis management
after the scandal broke. “It is an open
secret that Lin was appointed by Ma to the Cabinet, not Premier Sean Chen. As
a result, when allegations surfaced of Lin’s involvement in corruption, the
premier could not deal with the matter himself because Lin was Ma’s aide, and
the Executive Yuan had to wait for the president’s approval before deciding
whether to ask Lin to step down,” he said. A KMT Central Standing
Committee member, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Ma had his own
small coterie of trusted aides and his trust in those individuals made it
very difficult for anyone else to advise the president. “Take Lin’s
case, for example. There were numerous complaints from KMT legislators about
Lin’s arrogance and unwillingness to talk to fellow lawmakers when he served
as KMT caucus whip. However, no one warned the president about Lin’s behavior
or how much he was disliked because he was one of Ma’s trusted aides,” he
said. When Lin was first accused of
corruption by the Chinese-language Next Magazine on June 27, both the
Presidential Office and the Executive Yuan failed to launch an immediate
probe into the matter. Rather, they first asked Lin to clarify the situation
and did not ask him to step down until the second day, when prosecutors
launched a probe and more evidence started to emerge. In the face of growing discontent
over the Ma administration’s poor crisis-management skills, the government’s
integrity forum on Saturday was attended by 44 top-level Cabinet officials,
who discussed anti-corruption measures. Amid challenges over the impact of
the forum on anti-corruption work, the Ma administration is planning an
“anti-corruption” marathon later this month as part of a wide ranging
anti-corruption campaign. Agency Against Corruption Deputy
Head Yang Shih-chin (楊石金) dismissed criticism of
the agency for organizing the run. The event was planned months ago,
long before Lin’s corruption scandal broke, Yang said. “Combating corruption is
the collective work of every citizen and the marathon is aimed at raising
public awareness of anti--corruption work,” he added. In response to the agency’s failure
to uncover Lin’s alleged involvement in corruption before the magazine broke
the story, Yang said that Lin accepted the bribe when he was a KMT legislator
and it was “beyond the agency’s authority” to probe the integrity of
non-government officials. However, that statement only served
to highlight the Ma administration’s failure to put a proper ethics mechanism
in place. Existing anti-corruption measures failed to expose Lin’s corruption
and many find Ma’s pledges on reinforcing such measures and promoting clean
government lacking in persuasion. Unless Ma can present practical
strategies to combat corruption and expand his circle of trusted lieutenants,
there is every chance that Lin will not be the last corrupt official to be
uncovered before the end of his second term. * 《Taipei Times》2012/07/12。
|
