That cookie jar is awfully tempting...
Oh, the hapless Chen family is at it again. Current ROC president 陳水扁 Chen Shui-Bian must be pulling his hair out at the welcome home present that his son-in-law just gave him. Ever-vigilant KMT Legislator 邱毅 Chiu Yi, in one of those news conferences that Chen has been ranting about, accused Chen’s son-in-law, 趙建銘 Chao Chien-ming, of insider trading. Prosecutors have started investigating in the wake of the revelations.
Well, actually it’s Chao’s mom who bought NT$10 million of a delisted company, Taiwan Development and Trust, at NT$2 in June and July of 2005. The company secured credit soon after the purchases. It’s not clear whether she’s sold them or not, but the shares are worth about NT$20 each today. Not bad for an elementary school teacher. Sonny-boy Chao just reportedly bought some nice, new apartments.
Lest you think that Chao is an innocent caught in the crossfire, Chao was suing another KMT lawmaker, bizarrely mimicking the Sogo accusations. He dismissed these accustions by claiming his mommy did it by herself and flippantly offering a 25% cut to reporters. He promptly sued Chui, claiming that the real estate purchase was ‘pure fiction,’ while repeating the line that he has nothing to do with his mother’s finances. Note the lack of a public denial of insider trading.
Though it’s a bit early to tell, the lack of a spirited defense here is telling. The DPP legislators are signaling that they aren’t willing to support a First Family member in yet another corruption scandal. One of the DPP whips is calling for son and mother to offer public explanations. Other legislators were quick to offer a brilliant, yet familiar, exit strategy - donate all the money to charity. Whatever they come up with isn’t going to stand up against KMT chairman 馬英九 Ma Ying-jeou, who currently has a monk-like lifestyle.
Well, actually it’s Chao’s mom who bought NT$10 million of a delisted company, Taiwan Development and Trust, at NT$2 in June and July of 2005. The company secured credit soon after the purchases. It’s not clear whether she’s sold them or not, but the shares are worth about NT$20 each today. Not bad for an elementary school teacher. Sonny-boy Chao just reportedly bought some nice, new apartments.
Lest you think that Chao is an innocent caught in the crossfire, Chao was suing another KMT lawmaker, bizarrely mimicking the Sogo accusations. He dismissed these accustions by claiming his mommy did it by herself and flippantly offering a 25% cut to reporters. He promptly sued Chui, claiming that the real estate purchase was ‘pure fiction,’ while repeating the line that he has nothing to do with his mother’s finances. Note the lack of a public denial of insider trading.
Though it’s a bit early to tell, the lack of a spirited defense here is telling. The DPP legislators are signaling that they aren’t willing to support a First Family member in yet another corruption scandal. One of the DPP whips is calling for son and mother to offer public explanations. Other legislators were quick to offer a brilliant, yet familiar, exit strategy - donate all the money to charity. Whatever they come up with isn’t going to stand up against KMT chairman 馬英九 Ma Ying-jeou, who currently has a monk-like lifestyle.
posted by Taiwan's Other Side at 7:17 PM
6 Comments:
You're joking about Ma's monk-like lifestyle right? He regularly travels on either the KMT or Taipei city's bill, and the city government gives him a ton of perks, not the least of which are bodyguards, car + drivers, assistants...
From the article, it may be true he doesn't spend a lot on personal items such as the mentioned food or clothes. But let me ask you this. How many families in Taiwan can afford tutors/buxibans for their children so that they are fluent enough in English that they can attend American universities (tons of Taiwanese go for grad school, almost no one besides math olympiad champions goes for undergraduate) and afford dual private university tuitions in the US (probably around $90,000 per a year).
Ma has been the receipient of the spoils of an authoritarian system his entire life. This includes everything from scholarships he had to go to law school in the US (Ma is smart, but don't tell me this was open up to anyone... that generation in Taiwan had a zillion geniuses and none of them got this kind of perk... his dad was a KMT general), getting a job as translator to Jiang, ridiculously high pay for government officials pay from his years... even in the relatively much wealthier Taiwan, the pay of government officials is still rather high...
He's not flashy, and so far, he appears not to have been involved in any scandals, which are good things. But the origins of his wealth aren't so clean from the big picture point of view, and for you to compare it to a monk is either an insult to monks or a reference to the sad state of Buddhist religious organizations in Taiwan today.
I was being flippant, anonymous.
Note that I didn't actually say he was monk. Of course there are benefits to the job, and costs.
"How many families in Taiwan can afford tutors/buxibans for their children so that they are fluent enough in English that they can attend American universities" ?
A lot, and those families come from both sides of the aisle. There are plenty kids studying English and in American universities who are not of waishengren descent. You're not perpetrating the myth of the 'poor' Taiwanese being oppressed by the 'rich' waishengren are you? The Chens seem to be doing okay...
Rose colored glasses little one. Did I say anything generally about the wealth of waishengren or benshengren?
I simply compared Ma's situation to the majority of Taiwanese who didn't have political connections to the authoritarian system at the time, who, last I checked, waishengren or benshengren, very few of which had KMT generals for dads. Your biases run deep.
Whats your problem, always complaining about Tawian! Well, if you don´t like it here, then just go to mainland China and try to write a blog like this. Lets see how long you will make it in prison.
I'm all for airing dirty laundry like these scandals in public because that's part of the democratic process.
Being a political leader in a democracy means being able to stand up to public scrutiny. If you betray the public's trust, you'll be held accountable and that should apply to anyone holding public office.
Yes, the Chen administration is inept and that's bad for Taiwan. People ought to know about its shortcomings. I would imagine that if the Pan Blues were to take power in 2008, they'd be subject to the same scrutiny by the blogosphere and the general public.
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