TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Former Hsinchu Mayor Lin Chih-chien (林智堅), who had two master’s degrees revoked because of plagiarism, has failed in his appeal to the Ministry of Education (MOE) to overturn the decision.

In a statement from MOE on the appeal, the ministry said, “It is really hard to believe that (Lin) really has this research ability." When Lin was asked questions about his thesis' methodology orally, he was unable to answer them, according to TTV.

The appeal decision said that Lin’s thesis plagiarized a Hsinchu Science Park publication, that he did not write it — nor was he even the main author. Lin’s thesis did not mention the work he plagiarized.

The MOE report said the charts, data, and some words Lin used were almost identical to the Hsinchu Science Park report. It added this was an attempt to mislead people into thinking that Lin had created the work himself.

More than just misleading his examiners and the public, Lin appears to have misled the president too. Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said in August that as long as anyone reads Lin’s papers and understands them fully, they will be “willing to choose to believe that (Lin) did not plagiarize.”

The MOE said that if Lin disagrees with the decision, he will need to lodge an appeal with the Taipei High Administrative Court within two months.

Lin is not the first DPP politician to be caught plagiarizing post-graduate work. Former mayor of Taoyuan Cheng Wen-tsan (鄭文燦) apologized in December after he also lost his master's degree due to plagiarism, with Cheng attributing the act to a lack of time.