Taipei - Taiwan president-elect Ma Ying-jeou says his new cabinet, in addition to focusing on the island's economic problems, will concentrate on education, ways to reduce the ethnic divide and fight corruption that has plagued the island in the past eight years.

"People naturally tend to think that we will focus on economy. True, but that is only one of our focuses," he said in an exclusive interview with Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa at the National Party, or Kuomintang (KMT), office Thursday.

Although the ailing economy has topped the list of complaints he has heard during his visits to more than 260 townships in the past year, people also want the government to pay extra attention to education, he said.

Taiwanese have in the past eight years been subjected to the so-called "Love Taiwan" campaign launched by the pro-independence president, Chen Shui-bian, who has used this to improve his political fortunes. This has increased the political and ethnic divide between locally born Taiwanese and Chinese immigrants or their children.

Corruption has allegedly also been unabated in the past eight years, with a number of senior officials of the Chen government either being convicted or indicted for graft. Chen's wife has been tried for embezzlement of state funds, while his son-in-law has been convicted of insider trading, pending appeal. Prosecutors even said they had enough evidence to charge Chen, but spared him due to his immunity.

Ma declined to say who he has in mind to lead his anti-corruption drive.

Nor would he disclose whether he would name Liu Chao-shiuan as premier, although Taiwanese media have reported that the former vice premier and president of Soochow University is tipped to be the cabinet's head, given his clean image and wide political experience.

Ma is expected to announce the new cabinet chief in the next week or so, ahead of his inauguration on May 20. (dpa)