When Chang Hsiao-feng (張曉風) published an article opposing the transformation of the 202 Munitions Works in Taipei City’s Nangang District (南港) into a biotech park, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) immediately instructed the Cabinet to cautiously evaluate the release of the 202 site, taking the ecology, national land utilization and science and technology development into consideration.

That, however, was a waste of breath — after all, shouldn’t every development project take both ecology and construction into account? Should we allow developments that give consideration solely to construction?

Ma then inspected the site and made a decision that was obviously both flawed and careless. His announcement that construction on the site should begin as scheduled on June 1 was controversial, since construction cannot begin without an environmental impact assessment of the site.

What’s scheduled to take place on June 1 is in fact the demolition of the arsenal, not the beginning of construction of Academia Sinica’s planned biotech park.

A simple examination makes it clear that the original government plan for turning 144 hectares of the 185 hectare site into a special industrial zone was tailored for big corporations that would be allowed to use 57 hectares for their business headquarters, training centers and even luxury housing.

The area would be more than six times the proposed 9.6 ­hectare biotech park and the damage to the ecology would be inestimable. The Taipei City Government’s application for changes to the urban plan was directed by the central government.

Although Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) announced the temporary postponement of the review of the special industrial zone on May 7, he said he would wait for the government’s final decision. In response to a question by former vice president Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) in February, Ma said the zone was being planned. All the evidence implies that the government’s decision advances the interests of big business. Ma wasn’t only aware of this decision, but he was also a part of it.

Not only has the government made the flawed decision to develop the site, some government agencies in recent weeks have even tried to squeeze out the planned biotech park from the site and further expand the special industrial zone to 170 hectares. To achieve this, the Armaments Bureau of the Ministry of National Defense and even the Cabinet itself deliberately revealed the planned biotech park to the public.

The media ran massive reports, all based on the same source, attacking Academia Sinica. They exaggerated the institute’s 25 hectare project to make it seem as if it would include all 185 hectares of the site while excluding any reports about the plan for the special industrial zone that would cover 144 hectares of the site. This makes it seem as if the government has lost all reason and that things are getting out of control.

The media have played a strange role in the government’s bizarre decisionmaking process. The formal proposals for the biotech park and the special industrial zone are available for download on the Web site of Taipei City’s Department of Urban Development, but most of the media have not read these proposals.

Instead of investigating the truth through the proposals available online, they have focused on fragmentary information intentionally twisted by their sources. This is absurdity to the extreme.

TRANSLATED BY EDDY CHANG

Wed, May 19, 2010 - Page 8, Taipei Times