By Chris Wang / Staff reporter
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday accused Premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) of arranging more than five interviews with media on Wednesday, International Workers’ Day, to avoid meeting with workers protesting over deteriorating working conditions.
The premier preferred talking to reporters than meeting more than 50,000 workers who braved the heavy rain, which showed that “the premier and President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) only want to talk about what they have done and never want to listen to what the people have to say,” DPP spokesperson Wang Min-sheng (王閔生) told a press conference.
Wang said Jiang tried to use the interviews to avoid meeting with the protesters and to neutralize coverage of the demonstrations.
While the premier enjoyed talking about his achievements, none of the issues he mentioned in the interviews — the referendum on the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant, pension reforms, the National Health Insurance Program’s supplementary premium, the 12-year compulsory education program and economic growth — has been completed, Wang said.
Jiang should concentrate on delivering on his promises rather than making new ones, DPP spokesperson Lin Chun-hsien (林俊憲) said.
Asked about reports that Jiang had launched a probe into potential corruption in the Cabinet, Lin said Ma had promised integrity in his government, but there has only been widespread corruption instead.
If the government was serious about fighting corruption, it should support “sunshine laws” by amending the Party Act (政黨法) and the Political Donations Act (政治獻金法), among others, Lin said.