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Farmers call VP a
liar in land fight
BROKEN PROMISES: In 2010, while premier, Wu Den-yih
said he would stop farmers losing their land to a proposed science park, but the
project has gone ahead
By Loa Iok-sin / Staff reporter
Farmers and farming activists yesterday lashed out at Vice President Wu Den-yih
(§d´°¸q), calling him a liar after the government failed to fulfill a promise he
gave two years ago to allow farmers in Dapu Borough (¤j®H) of Jhunan Township
(¦Ë«n), Miaoli County, to keep their land.
Despite the promise made by Wu during his term as premier in 2010 to allow Dapu
residents Peng Hsiu-chun (´^¨q¬K), Chu Shu (¦¶¾ð), Ko Cheng-fu (¬_¦¨ºÖ) and Huang Fu-chi
(¶ÀºÖ°O) to keep their houses and farmland amid nationwide protests by farmers over
land expropriations, the Ministry of the Interior (MOI) decided in an urban
planning committee meeting to demolish the homes of Peng, Chu and Ko, while
relocating Huang¡¦s farm.
A total of 28 hectares of land in the farming village was originally to be
expropriated to make way for a science park.
¡§Vice President Wu promised us that we could keep our houses and land as
premier, it¡¦s written in black and white, he should keep his promise,¡¨ Dapu
Self-Help Association spokeswoman Yeh Hsiu-tao (¸¨q®ç) told a press conference at
the legislature yesterday, holding an official letter from the Executive Yuan
dated Aug. 11, 2010.
¡§We agree that the buildings and land of those landowners who have not applied
for compensative land before the deadline shall be preserved in their original
locations,¡¨ the concluding paragraph of the letter said.
¡§It¡¦s been two years since Wu made the promise, but we never felt that the
government was sincere about it,¡¨ Yeh said. ¡§Someone has already committed
suicide. Why can¡¦t the government give us a way to survive?¡¨
Yeh was referring to Chu Feng-ming (¦¶¶¾±Ó), the wife of Chu Shu, who committed
suicide in 2010 aged 73, allegedly because she was worried about the future of
her family once the house and land had been taken by the government.
Holding a title deed, Peng said she could not understand why the government was
taking away her 6 ping (19.8m2) piece of land by force when she legally owns it.
¡§Vice President Wu, you should remember your promise and come to help us,¡¨ she
said.
Lee Ming-chih (§õ©úªÛ), a lawyer representing the self-help group, accused Deputy
Minister of the Interior Chien Tai-lang (²¤Ó¦) of pushing through the decision to
seize properties of the four families, despite objections.
¡§One of the urban planning committee members expressed opposition in yesterday¡¦s
[Tuesday¡¦s] meeting, but Chien ignored it,¡¨ Lee said. ¡§There was a lot of false
information stated during the meeting, but we were not allowed to clarify that
information ¡X this is an unjust decision based on false information.¡¨
Responding to the accusations, Chien said he was merely presiding over the
meeting and had no power to single-handedly decide the outcome.
¡§It¡¦s true that one of the members expressed opposition, but he was the only one
who was against it, while everybody else in the meeting agreed to it. As chair
of the meeting, I could only make a conclusion based on what the majority of the
participants decided,¡¨ Chien said via telephone. ¡§Most of the participants were
academics. There¡¦s no way we could try to influence them.¡¨
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