《TAIPEI TIMES 焦點》 Ma says he is a target of DPP’s political ‘witch-hunt’

By Stacy Hsu / Staff reporter

With only a week left in his term, President Ma Ying-jeou （馬英九） said a political witch-hunt has been waged against him, despite his having been a law-abiding citizen.

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In an interview with UDN TV that aired on Wednesday night, Ma said he was astonished to learn of some of the accusations leveled against him, because he had never intervened in independent government agencies or the judicial system.

“In my inauguration address eight years ago, I reminded public servants that ‘power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.’ That is why I have been very careful in this regard,” Ma said.

Asked if he is concerned he would become a target of political vengeance after his term expires on Friday next week, Ma said: “It has already begun,” but added that he has faith in his own innocence and the fairness and impartiality of the nation’s courts.

“I will only be leaving the Presidential Office, not Taiwan,” Ma said, adding that he would continue to pay attention to issues of interest after he leaves office and that he does not rule out writing a memoir.

Ma is facing accusations of power abuse and corruption by a number of civic organizations, which last month urged the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office to launch investigations into Ma’s alleged wrongdoings and to bar him from leaving the country.

They accused Ma of profiting the Farglory Group （遠雄集團） in the scandal-dogged Taipei Dome project during his term as Taipei mayor and instigating former prosecutor-general Huang Shih-ming （黃世銘） in 2013 to leak details in a controversial wiretapping investigation of former legislative speaker Wang Jin-pyng （王金平）, while questioning reports of unexplained increases in his personal wealth while in office.

Turning to the controversy over the WHO’s invitation to Taiwan for this year’s World Health Assembly （WHA）, which comes attached with the “one China” principle and UN Resolution 2758, Ma said that after he took office, the reason Taiwan was able to attend the WHA following decades of exclusion was because of the “1992 consensus.”

“Our adherence to the ‘consensus’ helped create some maneuvering room for Taiwan within what used to be a rigid ‘one China’ rule imposed by Beijing and the international community,” Ma said.

Some people seem to take for granted the achievements that have been made based on the “1992 consensus,” Ma said. “But even until now, we cannot see any alternative plans up their sleeves.”

The “1992 consensus” — a term former Mainland Affairs Council chairman Su Chi （蘇起） admitted making up in 2000 — refers to a tacit understanding between the Chinese Nationalist Party （KMT） and the Chinese government that both sides acknowledge there is “one China,” with each side having its own interpretation of what “China” means.

Ma also shrugged off speculation that the “swift” execution of Taipei MRT murderer Cheng Chieh （鄭捷） on Tuesday was prompted by political considerations, saying all inmates whose death sentences have been confirmed by the Supreme Court should be executed.

“There are more than 40 death row inmates in the country. It does not matter who is executed first,” Ma said, adding that Cheng was singled out because the heinous crime he committed disrupted social order and caused public panic.

Cheng, who killed four people and injured 22 in a stabbing frenzy on a Taipei MRT train in 2014, was executed 18 days after the Supreme Court upheld his death sentence on April 22.

Cabinet spokesperson-designate Tung Chen-yuan （童振源） yesterday said Ma’s accusations of “political persecution” by the incoming DPP government was “all in his mind.”

“The new government will conduct everything in accordance with the law,” Tung said.

Additional reporting by Loa Iok-sin

新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES