President Ma Ying-jeou just had a face-to face meeting with over 100 students at St. John's University in Tamsui for an open discussion about current events. President Ma challenged the minds of these individuals by posing questions about the construction of the Kuokuang Petrochemical plant, the implementation of the luxury tax, and the abolition of death penalty.

It's a rare opportunity for college students to have a face-to-face meeting with President Ma.

Over 100 students were so excited about the chance to discuss public affairs issues with the president, who played the question-asking role in the forum today in the attemt to understand the views of young people.

While some students were not aware of details of the controversial development plan of the Kuokuang Petrochemical Plan and were unable to answer the questions, President Ma still wants to listen to what they have to say about the environmental protection issue.

In terms of the long-disputed question of death penalty, President Ma asked students whether they support the abolition of death penalty by hand votes, most show opposition.

The president is also concerned with young people's attitude toward the recently approved luxury tax bill, which passes initial legislative review and is deemed as an important government policy to curb short-term property speculation.

President Ma hopes to encourage young people to influence and engage in public affairs through the opportunity of exchanging opinions on the three major public affairs issues.