It is interesting that the “green” TV News coverage of the Rebar scandal appears to be relatively neutral, pointing out of course, that Rebar Group chairman Wang You-theng (王又曾) has been a member of the [KMT’s] Central Standing Committee for a long time. (TT) But I don’t hear any journalists asking any presumptuous questions like whether this means the leader of the KMT should “Xia tai” or anything.
I could just imagine if the guilty man was a DDP high-up. This scandal would then have a completely different flavour. It would be another “Chen scandal.” But watch Ma get away unscathed in the media. I hate these double standards.
As it is, the KMT voiceboxes are trying to paint it all as a DPP failure. Their points seem quite valid. The FSC, which is pretty much DPP-controlled I believe (not sure) seems to have handled the Rebar group with kid gloves and acted too slow to prevent Wang and some of the other crooks from escaping to their motherland.
[quote] The Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) should have stepped in sooner than it did, KMT Legislator Tsai Chin-lung (蔡錦隆) told a press conference.
Tsai added that the FSC should be abolished as “it is as useless as an appendix.”
KMT Legislator Lai Shyh-bao (賴士葆) said FSC officials had turned a blind eye to what had been going on at The Chinese Bank since November last year.
“We suspect that the FSC gave the Rebar Group too much free rein. About two months ago, FSC Chairman Shih Jun-ji (施俊吉) guaranteed [the bank’s ability to operate]. Can he explain how the run on the bank happened?” Lai asked.
The government wouldn’t have had to waste taxpayers’ money on bailing out The Chinese Bank if the FSC had done its job better, KMT Legislator Lee Jih-chu (李紀珠) said.
“This incident proves that the government is not capable of managing problematic financial institutions. As a result, a conglomerate made large sums of money and taxpayers were saddled with debt,” she said.[/quote]
It had just 31 members in 2001 according to that link.