KMT group sees president in Ma

The next presidential election is still three years away but some KMT politicians have started to pave the way for the party's likely candidate -- Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) -- to run in the race.

The Reform Association (改革會), a subgroup within the legislature consisting of 16 KMT legislators, yesterday held a meeting with Ma and suggested that he tour Taiwan to campaign for the party's candidates in the December legislative and local government elections as a way of broadening his "national reputation."

Other KMT subgroups in the legislature have also expressed an interest in meeting Ma some time in the future.

"This is a very good opportunity. Otherwise he will simply be Taipei mayor with no interaction with lawmakers or Taiwan as a whole. Elections are the best opportunity to interact with the whole nation," said association chairman Apollo Chen (陳學聖).

Chen said the idea was inspired by a format adopted by President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) four years ago when he was mayor of Taipei.

Back in 1997, Chen Shui-bian made a campaign tour around Taiwan to campaign for the DPP's candidates in the last elections for county commissioners and mayors of provincial municipalities.

"This laid the foundation for [Chen's] personal connections and established his nationwide reputation," Chen noted.

On behalf of the association, Legislator Chu Li-luan (朱立倫), who is expected to represent the KMT in the race for Taoyuan County Commissioner, presented Ma with a pile of news clippings concerning Chen Shui-bian's 1997 campaign tour "for his reference."

In reply, Ma said he would be happy to accept the invitation as long as he could spare the time for the campaign tour. Ma did not indicate whether he planned to run for the presidency, but said he would "refer to" the clippings offered by the legislators.

Wu Tung-yeh (吳東野), a political scientist at National Chengchi University, said the KMT may need to cooperate with the People First Party to win the next presidency, but the two parties need to overcome a lot of practical problems before any such cooperation can be realized. "In these circumstances, the group of pro-reform legislators is trying to turn Ma into a potential candidate to be a leader of the KMT. But this is no guarantee that Ma will run for the presidency," Wu said.