President endorses MAC head

"Shouldn't the TSU speak up when the people are in misery?" Huang rhetorically asked, pointing to a planned protest on Aug. 20 against the government's China policy and its alleged failure to deal with inflation.

Huang contended that neither former President Lee Teng-hui, the "spiritual" leader of the TSU, nor the TSU itself, recommended Lai for the post. He said it was Ma who recruited Lai.

"It is only natural for the TSU to monitor and criticize the government if it is doing a poor job even if Lai is a Cabinet member," he went on.

Huang likened Lai's current situation to that of Tang Fei, who served as defense minister in the KMT administration before being briefly named as premier in the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government in May 2000.

A DPP official also criticized Lai for allegedly failing to live up to her words.

Cheng Wen-tsang, director of DPP's Department of Culture and Information, noted that Lai said she would serve to put a brake on the government's cross-strait policies when she assumed the post May 20.

"But two months have passed, and we've seen less of her limiting and more of her endorsing the government's policies," he said.

DPP Legislator Chang Hwa-kuan said that Lai's ideals are different from President Ma's, making it difficult for her to do her job well.

Lai should "make a wise choice between turning back on former President Lee and ingratiating President Ma," Chang said.

Her party's stance contradicts that of President Ma, who is pursuing a policy of broad economic normalization with China in a bid to help Taiwan's sluggish economy, he argued.

Unexpectedly, KMT legislators also traded barbs over Lai's performance yesterday.

KMT Legislator Wu Yu-sheng said that the TSU should strip Lai of her membership to give her a free hand in promoting cross-strait policy.

KMT Legislator Yang Chiung-ying added that Lai "should choose the side of the public interest, and not the side of the interest of one party."



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