Give it some more thought, Ma: DPP

Urging him to think about the country's stability, the Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP) three top leaders yesterday called on Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) not to create conflict in order to attain his goal of seizing the presidency.

Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌), Chairman Yu Shyi-kun and DPP caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) appeared together at a press conference in which they asked Ma to reconsider supporting a presidential recall motion before it was too late.

Saying that Taiwanese society is based on law and order,Su noted one can not go back to the ancient practice of "obliterate the lineage."

"We hope Ma won't set a bad example by sabotaging the country's laws just to seize power," he added.

The premier noted that Ma had previously said it was not time to push for a recall as there was no evidence that President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) was involved in any of the scandals that have ensnared his relatives and close colleagues.

"But Ma has suddenly changed his mind and is pushing for a recall motion in the hope of seizing power," Su said.

If the pan-blue camp insists on holding a rally or a parade to protest against the president over the weekend, it would only waste police manpower and add to the political instability, which is not helpful to social security and economic development, he said.

Yu said that although members of the pan-blue camp always said they had the public interest in mind, they actually focused on creating political confrontation.

"I urge Ma to reconsider the recall motion before it is too late. [The KMT should] not harm Taiwan and damage the legal system just because of their opposition to Chen," Yu said.

Ker said that the movement to recall the president was the result of the pan-blue camp's efforts to deal with its internal conflicts by finding a common rallying point. The KMT and People First Party are having great difficulty settling on a candidate for the Taipei mayoral election, he said.

"I hope Ma will allow KMT legislators to consent to convene an extraordinary legislative session so that many pending budgets that concern the country's development can be passed," Ker said.

Meanwhile, while the press conference was proceeding, a scuffle broke out between DPP city councilor candidate Chang Teng-ray (張登瑞) and DPP Legislator You Ching (尤清). You wanted to attend the press conference to appeal his expulsion from the party's Taipei mayoral election primary. But Chang blocked You's way and asked him to withdraw his candidacy for the sake of the party's unity.

Former premier Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) is widely expected to run as the DPP's candidate.