By Chris Wang / Staff Reporter
Former Academia Sinica president Lee Yuan-tseh’s (李遠哲) comments in a newly published book alleging that some lawmakers were supported by gangsters stirred up a ruckus in the legislature yesterday as lawmakers urged Lee to provide evidence and “name names.”
Lee was quoted in a book recently published by the independent watchdog Citizen’s Congress Watch titled Action! as saying that “many lawmakers were financed by businessmen and some were even supported by gang members.”
The 1986 Nobel Prize laureate, who led the state-funded institution as president from 1994 to 2006, said he had been advised by insiders to “go to the men behind the lawmakers” if there were problems to be solved.
Lee’s comments drew mixed reactions in the Legislative Yuan yesterday, with Legislator Chu Feng-chi (朱鳳芝) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) saying the remarks had tarnished the integrity of every lawmaker and that Lee “should name names.”
KMT Legislator Lin Yu-fang (林郁方) described the accusations as “groundless” and “doubtful” and that they have made Lee “[just] another TV commentator,” which could hurt his credibility.
While saying it was true that some politicians with gang connections had been elected to the legislature in the past, Lin said: “I don’t see anyone in the legislature who has been [financially] supported by gangsters.”
Under the current electoral -system — a one-on-one battle in every constituency after the system was changed in 2007 from plurality voting to single-member districts — it is highly unlikely that candidates with a mafia background could be elected, he added.
KMT Legislator Wu Yu-sheng (吳育昇) said that it was inevitable that some lawmakers would come into contact with gangsters in their constituencies. However, he added that it does not mean lawmakers will be directed by gang members.
Wu urged Lee to provide concrete evidence to back up his claim.
“Otherwise, this is an unfair accusation against all legislators,” he said.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Huang Wei-che (黃偉哲), on the other hand, -suggested that bribery, under-the-table maneuvers and lawmakers with mafia connections were nothing new in the legislature.
“I really don’t think [Lee’s comment about] legislators being financed by gangsters is surprising,” he said.
Nonetheless, Huang said, Lee, as one of the most respected academics in Taiwan, should describe in detail how he was forced to go via the “back door” in the past to move legislation and budgets in the legislature.
Meanwhile, DPP Legislator Lin Shu-fen (林淑芬) said current legislation screening has been seriously affected by rampant lobbying from various interest groups.
“At the end of the day, lawmakers should know how to avoid conflicts of interest,” she said.