Fri, Sep 01, 2006 page1

• Pan-blues want their Shih sit-in donations back

  UPSET Several pan-blue camp followers want refunds from Shih Ming-teh's campaign after he criticized KMT Chairman Ma Ying-jeou last week

  • By Ko Shu-ling / STAFF REPORTER
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  A number of pan-blue supporters who donated NT$100 (US$3.04) to a fundraising campaign initiated to oust the president are asking for refunds.

  The one-time supporters of the campaign were apparently upset after former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) chairman Shih Ming-teh (施明德) criticized Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) on Monday of being two-faced in his demands for President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) resignation.

  "On the one hand, Ma let everyone know that he donated NT$100 to the campaign, but, on the other hand, he refuses to allow the application for a round-the-clock sit-in," Shih said, adding that Ma was actually not in favor of Chen's resignation.

  If Chen retains his position, which Shih said was against the public's wishes, Ma's campaign for the 2008 presidential election would benefit, he said.

  Whether or not Shih's campaign would refund the donations was an issue that divided the campaign office yesterday.

  Wei Yao-chien (魏耀乾), campaign executive director, rejected requests for refunds, while Wang Lie-ping (王麗萍), a campaign spokeswoman, said refunds would be permitted.

  Wang said that less than 10 contributors had asked for a refund, and dismissed media reports that a swarm of donors had made such demands.

  Wang said that contributors wishing to get a refund must present their receipt before 5pm on Sept. 8 to be eligible for a refund.

  Meanwhile, responding to criticism from within the party, a KMT official said that Ma will detail the party's efforts to oust Chen and challenge the DPP's position on the anti-Chen campaign in a series of advertisements starting on Sept. 9.

  As the sit-in protest is scheduled to begin on that day, KMT Spokesman Huang Yu-cheng (黃玉振) said Ma will clarify the party's position in the advertisement which will be published in all the nation's major newspapers.

  "We want the public to know that the KMT has never been absent from the anti-Chen campaigns ... The ad will also ask the DPP whether it wants to `support A-bian and corruption' or `depose A-bian and depose corruption,'" Huang said yesterday in a written statement.

  Huang said that Ma may show up at the protest site and deliver a speech to the protesters.

  The organizers of the protest also ratcheted up their efforts to generate interest in the campaign yesterday, encouraging the public to register for the "trial sit-in" protest which begins today. The campaign office also called on the public to send letters to the Taiwan High Court asking it to beef up its investigation of Chen's controversial special allowance fund.

  Organizers hoped to see 1 million letters sent before the actual sit-in begins on Sept. 9.

  The open letter, which will appear in today's editions of many Chinese-language newspapers, is addressed to Taiwan High Court Prosecutor-General Hsieh Wen-ting (謝文定) and Prosecutor Eric Chen (陳瑞仁) of the Black Gold Investigation Center at the Taiwan High Court Prosecutors' Office.

  Organizers encouraged the public to make copies of the letter and sign it before sending it.

  Meanwhile, victims of the "Kaohsiung Incident" yesterday made an emotional appeal to Shih asking him to stop his anti-Chen campaign.

  Former DPP legislator Chiu Chuei-chen (邱垂貞), who served a six-year term for his involvement in the 1979 protest, said that he admired the Shih of the "Kaohsiung Incident" era and approved of Shih's efforts to uphold democracy and oppose corruption.

  "But I am against the sit-in calling for the resignation of President Chen," he said.

  "I'm worried that Shih would become a political radical like Osama bin Laden," he said.

  Since Taiwan is a democracy, Chiu said that the people can oversee the government using lawful and constitutional means.

  If the president breaks the law, he said, the president must be convicted by a court of law and punished accordingly, he said.

  Chou Pin-de (周平德), who was sentenced to a six-year term on charges of "violent intimidation" and served over four years, tearfully sang the songs that he and other democratic activists sang when they were pushing for democratic reform.

  Chou criticized Shih for being inconsistent in his political position and becoming a pawn of the pan-blue camp and China.
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