DPP considering a Cabinet reshuffle

To boost the public's confidence in the DPP's ability to govern, party sources said yesterday that President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) has demanded the Cabinet list all its concrete achievements since it came to power last May 20. Sources said the president will carry out a reshuffle after the anniversary of his inauguration.

"The president wants the Cabinet to tell the public on the anniversary of the inauguration that what it has done is better than what the former KMT government did," a senior aide to the president said.

"Then the president will discuss who should leave the Cabinet," the aide said.

Premier Chang Chun-hsiung (張俊雄) yesterday also made it clear that if any Cabinet member had ideas different from the DPP, then he or she should not stay in the government.

"It is natural that those government officials whose ideals are not in harmony with the DPP's should be replaced," Chang said.

Chang and other Cabinet members have recently been pressured by the opposition alliance to step down to take responsibility for the decision to halt construction of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant (核四).

The Presidential Office, however, has continued to say that the premier had done nothing wrong over this controversial issue and that therefore it was not necessary to reshuffle the Cabinet for the time being.

DPP sources said yesterday that on Monday night Chen had formally requested the premier to ask all Cabinet members to list their accomplishments.

"The president understands that the public will examine what the DPP government has achieved after ruling the country for one year," a senior aide to the president said. "Especially as the government has failed to implement its policies due to the opposition alliance's obstruction in the Legislative Yuan," the aide said, "The president is anxious about how to prove his ability to develop the country."

DPP sources also said that the president had clearly instructed the premier to speed up efforts in three major directions -- financial reform, the elimination of corruption among officials and post-quake reconstruction.

As to the reshuffle, the senior aide to the president hinted that Minister of Education Ovid Tzeng (曾志朗) might be replaced, but that Minister of Economic Affairs Lin Hsin-yi (林信義) would stay.

"Tzeng has demonstrated through his policymaking that he is opposed to the DPP's stance on various issues. Among them is the adoption of Hanyu Pinyin (漢語拼音) -- the system used in China -- as Taiwan's official Mandarin Romanization system instead of the homegrown Tongyong Pinyin (通用拼音) system, which President Chen favored during his term as Taipei City mayor from 1994 to 1998," the aide said.

"On the question of how to replace the high school entrance examination," the aide said, "Tzeng would rather choose the opposition parties' proposal than implement the DPP government's method."

"Not to mention the Control Yuan's decision to impeach Tzeng because he violated legal regulations when he held three positions at two national universities for nearly eight years while holding dual citizenship," the aide said.

Lin, whose report urged the premier to halt construction of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant and who was therefore urged to step down by the opposition alliance, will remain a Cabinet member.

"If the DPP sacrificed Lin to satisfy the opposition parties, then who else would be willing to fight for the president in the future?" the aide said.