Taiwan's main opposition party the Kuomintang (KMT) has decided to reject its chairman Ma Ying-jeou's resignation and asked him to reconsider his decision.

Ma Ying-jeou submitted his resignation on Tuesday after he was indicted on charges of corruption.

In trying to persuade Ma to remain in his post, the KMT has contravened its own regulation, which stipulates that the chairman of the party is required to resign from his post if he is prosecuted, regardless of whether or not he is found guilty.

At a press conference held to announce his resignation, Ma protested his innocence and immediately declared for the first time that he would run for the 2008 Taiwan leader election if selected as the KMT candidate.

Taiwan prosecutors said Ma diverted 11 million New Taiwan dollars (333,000 U.S. dollars) from Taipei's special allowance funds to his private account when he was mayor of Taipei.

The prosecutors did not say what jail term they would seek but say they would suggest the court give Ma a light penalty if he is found guilty.

The clean government committee, which operates under the KMT, published an investigation report after Ma's indictment was announced, arguing that the special allowances deposited in Ma's personal account had all been used for public welfare services.

The report said that Ma donated a total of 68.09 million New Taiwan dollars (2.06 million U.S. dollars) to public undertakings in his tenure as Taipei city mayor, far more than the special allowances put in his private account.

It is in keeping with the policy of the Taiwan authorities to put part of the special allowances into a private account, the report said.

Honorary KMT Chairman Lian Chan said that he felt great sympathy for Ma and believed the indictment would not impair Taiwan residents' trust in Ma's honesty and integrity.

"The ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has tried to confuse the public by equating Ma's alleged special allowance case to the DPP leader Chen Shui-bian and his family's corruption cases," Lian said.

"They think they can maneuvre the law to turn things upside down, but a new prosecution can not cover up the graft of Taiwan authorities," he said.

He called on KMT members to unite together to endure the "test" and work to win the election of the "Legislative Yuan" at the end of this year and the Taiwan leader election in 2008.

Taiwan prosecutors also indicted Yu Wen, former secretary of the Taipei mayor's office, on charges of forgery.

Indictments against five other people involved in the forgery case have been temporarily postponed, according to Taiwan prosecutors.

In August 2006, some Democratic Progressive Party members had accused Ma of misusing special allowance funds while he was mayor of Taipei, which led to the investigation.

Special allowance funds are allocated by the Taiwan authorities to the executive officers at various levels in Taiwan. Official receipts are only required for half of the special allowance funds, while the spending of the other half only requires the signature of the official.

Ma has previously said he would resign from his post as KMT chairman if he was indicted.

Source: Xinhua