A group of young Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) members spoke out yesterday against party authorities, urging the KMT to speed up reform and to allow greater participation by the younger generation.
The group, calling itself the "567 Alliance," is the latest body of young members to challenge the leadership of the KMT.
Last Wednesday a group of KMT members called the "Chunghsiung (Rejuvenation) Elite Group" urged the party to concede defeat in the March 20 presidential election and implement immediate reform.
Among their appeals, the "567 Alliance" said party authorities should make a clean public image and professional expertise priorities when nominating candidates for the year-end legislative elections rather than focussing on incumbency.
"There should be four young people on the party's list of the top 16 nominees for members-at-large," said alliance member Wu Wei-chi (
But group organizer Lee Fu-chuan (
Lee said the goal of the alliance is to push for democratic reform within the KMT and that its primary concern is the party's continuing development.
Members of the alliance said the party should strive for inter-generational cooperation rather than generation change.
Responding to President Chen Shui-bian's (
The alliance also proposed that the party change the name of its headquarters from KMT National Headquarters to the Taiwan Democracy Building and invite charity groups to use space in the facility.
While stating that they would not ask to speak with party Chairman Lien Chan (
While the Chunghsiung Elite Group is made up of academics, businesspeople and other professionals, the alliance's membership consists mostly of academics specializing in research as well as teachers who have long worked for the party at the grassroots level on a part-time basis.
Referring to statements made by members of the Chunghsiung Elite Group who admitted they are eying seats in the year-end legislative election, alliance member Chang Zu-kang (張斯綱) said the reason the alliance distinguished itself from the Chunghsiung Elite Group was "because we have a different focus in our appeals, unlike some of those with their eyes fixed on the year-end legislative elections or calling on the party to concede defeat" in the presidential election.
The "567" in the alliance's name refers to the decades in which its members were born: the 50s, 60s and 70s in the Chinese calendar, or the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s in the Western calendar.
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