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The Liberty Times
Editorial: Corruption and KMT’s dirty wealth
The corruption case involving former Executive Yuan secretary-general Lin
Yi-shih (林益世) is pulling others into its vortex, with some legislators alleging
that Vice President Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) has also been on the take, covering his
tracks courtesy of a go-between.
The truth behind these allegations awaits further investigation, although it
does seem that the Special Investigation Division (SID) handling the case is
still sitting on its hands. Wu himself has spoken on the issue on several
occasions, sometimes giving conflicting accounts, a fact that has naturally
aroused suspicion. Even certain individuals within the Chinese Nationalist Party
(KMT) are calling on him to clarify the situation.
As the saying goes, the truth will out in the end, and any claims by President
Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) to be presiding over a squeaky clean government are now
looking more than a little dubious.
Nevertheless, senior KMT officials, including Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌),
New Taipei City Mayor Eric Chu (朱立倫) and Greater Taichung Mayor Jason Hu (胡志強),
have all come out in support of Ma and his second-in-command, saying they have
“100 percent faith” in him and that the vilification and “death by a thousand
cuts” being visited upon Wu are unfair. It is a bit too much like “birds of a
feather” if you ask us. Here is another metaphor that this rallying around of
people within the party brings to mind: “thick as thieves.”
Interestingly enough, one member of the KMT Central Standing Committee has said:
“If people are asking, ‘who is still corrupt in the KMT?’ then there is hope. If
those in the KMT are saying, ‘no, there is no corruption in the KMT,’ then we
really are in trouble.”
Unfortunately, it does seem that the latter opinion, that “there is no
corruption in the KMT,” appears to have advocacy not just within the KMT, but
among the wider public, too, and that is the crux of the KMT’s problem.
In the Lin corruption case, evidence appears to show that he had a group of
accomplices — that he was not acting alone, but the fact that senior members of
the party have chosen to declare their trust in Wu is characteristic of a
self-interested syndicate like the KMT. If it did not deal with things this way,
the whole cabal would have disbanded years ago.
What do we mean when we say the KMT is a syndicate? Simply put, it is a shrewdly
built business empire consisting of ill-gotten party assets, state-owned
enterprises, pro-blue corporations and the ability to influence the judiciary.
This syndicate rolls out the necessary funds and influence during elections —
especially presidential elections — and when the party is elected back into
government, the abuse of power continues apace, as Lin’s alleged selling of
political influence for money shows.
What is really scary is that, even when it lost in elections, as it did in 2000
and then again in 2004, and was forced into opposition, the foundations of this
syndicate remained intact. This is because the KMT sits on a mountain of party
assets — the biggest in the world — big enough to keep the whole organization
cohesive and well-oiled until it regained power. From then on out, it was
business as usual, as if it had never been out of power.
According to Ministry of the Interior figures on the finances declared by
political parties, in the period 2006 to last year, the KMT’s party coffers
swelled by NT$10.8 billion (US$358.8 million), courtesy of contributions from
businesses in which the party had invested. It does seem that the party has
access to a unlimited amount of cash to do as it pleases, be it for daily
running costs or laying on election campaigns. That notwithstanding, based on
the KMT Central Standing Committee’s financial declaration for Ma’s re-election
bid, it would appear that Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential
candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) spent more on her campaign than Ma did and also
received more in political donations. Is that supposed to be some kind of joke?
If it is, it is not funny. However, it does speak of the vast machine that is
the KMT, which is able to mobilize immeasurable swathes of behind-the-scenes
support during campaigns — presidential elections in particular — including
wall-to-wall advertisements and an army of campaigners, enough to make the
opponent’s campaign pale in comparison.
When he became party chairman in 2005, Ma attempted to cast himself as a
reformer, promising that he would oversee the selling off of all the party’s
ill-gotten assets and that he would “take the assets to zero.” This never
happened, because they were simply too useful, and other people will want to use
them after Ma has finished his political career.
In fact, the dividends paid on these assets last year alone were as high as
NT$2.9 billion: Rather than taking its assets to zero, the party has seen its
assets “add a zero or two” to its wealth. These party assets were illicitly
obtained many years ago and they continue to generate interest and profits. Is
it possible to say that anyone who has access to, and who uses, this money is
not corrupt?
These prodigious assets are used to fund election campaigns with amounts of cash
no other candidate can ever hope to compete with, in flagrant disregard of the
legal ceiling on allowable political contributions.
Again, how can one argue that anyone who has access to, this money has not in
some way gotten his or her hands dirty?
Some people say that Ma is the only non-corrupt person in the KMT, but this is a
position they clearly have not thought through properly. The way the party sold
off China Television, the Broadcasting Corp of China and the Central Motion
Picture Co is another case in point.
There is a saying that if you often travel at night you will eventually see a
ghost. There is truth in the sentiment. If you are often underhand, you will get
your comeuppance sooner or later.
Lin was caught out because of his own greed, asking for a bigger bribe so the
briber decided to squeal. He was hoist by his own petard. When the details of
the corruption were made known, he was done for, as the wheels of the law had
already started turning.
Now everyone is watching intently to see whether the judiciary, and in
particular the SID, is going to bring the actions of other members of this
syndicate out into the open, or if it is going to content itself with
investigating just the Lin case.
Will it, in other words, extend the scope of the investigation to other senior
KMT members and prove that the courts are not at the behest of the KMT?
Any pretensions to being “uncorrupt” can no longer be taken seriously and public
support for the government has slumped to below 20 percent.
First Lin was taken into custody, then Wu came out with his conflicting
protestations of innocence.
If Ma, ever mindful of his legacy, wants to continue as party chairman so he can
limit the damage done and take some of the wind out of the storm, then we may
well have another transition of political power on the way.
Translated by Paul Cooper
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