Taiwan's Ma forces out speaker of parliament in lobbying scandal

Reuters ^ | 09/11/2013 | Reuters

[TexGrill]

(Reuters) - Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou forced out speaker of parliament, widely seen as the government's second most powerful figure, over accusations of illegal lobbying on Wednesday, a move that could usher in a period of political instability.

Wang Jin-pyng's expulsion was decided by a disciplinary committee formed by the ruling Kuomintang (KMT), or Nationalist Party. The move strips him of his party membership and removes him from his position as head of Taiwan's legislature.

Some analysts say the move could hit the island's financial markets, predicting its TAIEX index could drop to as low as 7,800 points from 8208.99 on Wednesday.

The opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is likely to make political capital out of the case amid deteriorating popularity ratings for the president after a series of cabinet departures.

"Many in the KMT would say Ma is making a crazy move," said Zhang Zhexin, a Taiwan politics expert at the Shanghai Institute for International Studies.

"With Wang kicked out of party, the DPP could make this their political card, and use Wang to challenge KMT rule."

Wang was accused of pressuring prosecutors not to appeal against a not-guilty verdict in an opposition lawmaker's breach-of-trust case.

Ma had condemned it as "the most serious infringement" of the independence of Taiwan's judiciary.

"Speaker Wang cannot avoid the most critical issue - the fact that he had lobbied the case," the president said.

[TexGrill]

Global business tip

[Fai Mao]

I find the idea of stripping corrupt politicians of party membership an interesting one

[flushing_kenny]

Well, this is not a case of cleaning up the party. Ma, as corrupt as they can get, is less cleaning house than he is knocking off a competing presidential candidate. Mr. Wang has been a rival for the throne of the KMT for a number of years now, and finding an excuse to throw him out of the KMT removes an important Taiwanese-faction (as opposed to Ma’s mainland backers) contender from the next Presidential election in Taiwan. Ma is serving his 2nd term and has to step down, so there is a fight coming up for top dog.