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Wu Den-yih denies
flip-flop on Dapu
A MAN¡¦S WORD: Wu cited Confucian proverbs while
calling for flexibility, while Premier Jiang Yi-huah said the decision on
tearing down the four homes was up to Miaoli County
By Mo Yan-chih and Shih Hsiu-chuan / Staff reporters
Vice President Wu Den-yih talks
to the press prior to attending the wedding of Minister of the Interior Lee
Hong-yuan¡¦s oldest daughter in Taipei yesterday.
Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei Times
Vice President Wu Den-yih (§d´°¸q) yesterday
insisted the government did not overturn its policy on the impending demolition
of four homes in Miaoli County¡¦s Dapu (¤j®H), and expected the Miaoli County
Government to seek consensus with local residents on the issue.
Citing Chinese proverbs to stress the importance of the government adopting
flexible measures to handle the thorny issue, Wu said 99 percent of Dapu
residents have reached a consensus with the county government on the issue, and
the government will find solutions to resolve the problem with the four
remaining households.
¡§It¡¦s a traditional value for children to be obedient to parents, but when a
father is going after a child with a knife, the child should run away. If the
child stands there and gets killed, then he was actually acting against values
of filial piety,¡¨ Wu said.
In defending his handling of the dispute, Wu cited another proverb.
¡§Traditionally, men and women were not supposed to have physical contact, but if
you saw your sister-in-law about to fall into a well, would you hold on to
tradition and watch her fall into the well? It¡¦s important to deal with any
contingencies while abiding by the rules. Not everything is straight forward,¡¨
he said.
Wu made the arguments after he failed to resolve disputes over the issue via a
negotiation meeting on Friday with Miaoli County Commissioner Liu Cheng-hung
(¼B¬FÂE) and Premier Jiang Yi-huah (¦¿©y¾ì). Liu maintained the county government
would stick to its original plan and demolish the four houses to make way for a
local science park project.
The four affected households and their supporters have blamed the government for
what they said was its poor efforts to change Liu¡¦s firm stance on tearing down
the four houses in Dapu, and lashed out at Wu for failing to honor his own
pledge as premier in 2010 that the houses would be preserved.
Liu said yesterday the county government would continue to communicate with the
affected families.
¡§We hope everyone will keep local development and traffic safety in mind. If
there are no alternatives, the houses must be demolished,¡¨ he said, while
insisting that there is no timetable for the demolition.
Separately yesterday, Jiang said the matter is ¡§at the discretion of the county
government¡¨ and that the Executive Yuan will give the county government a free
hand to carry out the demolitions because it was in accordance with what was
decided by the Ministry of the Interior¡¦s (MOI) urban planning review committee.
Minutes of a negotiation meeting in July 2010 chaired by then-premier Wu shows
agreement that their houses should remain as they are.
Following the negotiation meeting, the urban planning review committee held five
meetings to discuss the case in 2010 and last year.
At the first meeting on Dec. 28, 2010, the county government was required to
adjust its development plan for construction of a science park expansion project
and land development so the results of the negotiations could be implemented.
The negotiation results and the conclusion of the first meeting of review
committee were overruled when it convened the third time on April 24 last year.
It was decided that the home of Ko Cheng-fu (¬_¦¨ºÖ) would be dismantled, a house
owned by Huang Fu-ji (¶ÀºÖ°O) would remain and the wall of the house torn down, and
the other two houses owned separately by Peng Hsiu-chun (´^¨q¬K) and Chu Su (¦¶¾ğ)
would be flattened when the construction of the planned road begins.
The decision was confirmed at the last of the five meetings on July 24 last
year, which Jiang said the county government has to follow.
Executive Yuan Deputy Secretary-General Chien Tai-lang (²¤Ó¦), who participated
in Friday¡¦s meeting because he attended to the case in 2010 when he was vice
interior minister, said yesterday that the policy to demolish the four houses
was ¡§set in stone.¡¨
No suggestion was proposed at Friday¡¦s meeting that the committee¡¦s decision on
July 24 last year would be reconsidered, he said.
When asked to comment on Wu¡¦s analogy, Taiwan Rural Front (TRF) spokeswoman
Frida Tsai (½²°ö¼z) said Wu should keep his word and stop finding excuses for
breaking his promise.
TRF researcher Chen Ping-hsuan (³¯¥°a) said that while Wu said children should run
away from their father when threatened, ¡§so should people resist when the
government is tearing down your house.¡¨
As the county government may send in a demolition squad at any time, Tsai said
the residents and their supporters are mobilizing activists to safeguard their
houses as early as midnight tomorrow.
Additional reporting by Loa Iok-sin
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