President Ma Ying-jeou said Monday that his stance on human rights issues has been consistent, as he defended making his call for Beijing to free jailed dissident Liu Xiaobo a day after Liu was named this year's Nobel Peace Prize winner. 'As head of state of the Republic of China, I have long been consistent in safeguarding human rights and have always urged China to treat dissidents with greater leniency, ' Ma was quoted as saying by Su Jun-pin, head of the ruling Kuomintang's (KMT's) Culture and Communications Committee, after the ruling party's monthly meeting. According to Su, Ma also showed a copy of his June 4 statement marking the June 4, 1989 Tiananmen Massacre to prove that he had repeatedly asked Beijing to deal with political dissidents more leniently. Ma's move to clarify his stance on China's human rights conditions came after the opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) criticized him for not urging Beijing to free Liu immediately after Liu was announced as the winner of the award Friday evening. Ma said he issued a statement congratulating Liu after learning the news. But he did not call for Liu's release until Oct. 9 during a gathering ahead of the country's National Day on Sunday, drawing the opposition's condemnation. Apart from asking China to set Liu free, Ma said he also made other concrete proposals to Beijing that included asking it to launch political reform and sign international human rights conventions. 'My logic has been consistent in my position on human rights. There's no problem of a fast or slow response as some have charged, 'Ma said. 