Are the two KMT titans rehashing their epic Sep. 2013 political struggle?
The News Lens
Date: 2019/01/04
By Brian Hioe, New Bloom
Credit: Reuters / Pichi Chuang
The “September Political Struggle” (九月政爭) of 2013 between former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and former majority speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) of the Kuomintang (KMT) is again back in the news. Wang and Ma are publicly trading barbs after the release of a new book by Ma detailing his presidential administration and defending past actions. The reemergence of these tensions perhaps points to major splits within the KMT.
The “September Political Struggle” took place following accusations that then-Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) minority whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) had attempted to seek help from Wang Jin-pyng to clear him of charges of illegal lobbying. This information emerged because Ker’s phone was being wiretapped by the Special Investigation Division as part of investigations into political corruption by Taiwanese law enforcement. But this wiretapping subsequently became the object of public controversy when Ma was seen as wiretapping political opponents in order to undermine them.
In particular, Ma shared information about what should have been a confidential investigation with then-Premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) and attempted to use this information to get Wang removed from his position as majority speaker of the KMT and expelled from the party.
Ma and Wang are political rivals within the KMT. Wang is the leader of the comparatively pro-localization “Taiwanese faction” of the KMT, while Ma is the leader of the KMT’s pro-China “Mainlander faction.” [FULL STORY]
