An enterprising entrepreneur, Gary Wang (
The announcement was made in a low-profile manner -- with the issuance of a written statement -- and the three-term legislator has since avoided further discussion about his decision not to run in the year-end legislative elections, nor accept any political group's invitation to become a legislator-at-large.
"Recent speculation had been troubling me and making me feel uneasy. I made the decision after realizing that Taiwan should escape from this chaos," he said.
Wang's unease may be the result of an investigation which began last August into his alleged involvement in a series of fraudulent land deals between Far Eastern Silo and Shipping (
The Taipei District Prosecutors' Office indicted Wang in January this year.
Following his disqualification to run under the KMT banner due to the fraud charges, there were reports claiming he was organizing a new political group together with some incumbent lawmakers.
It was also rumored that Wang was going to be nominated for an at-large seat representing the group for having backed it financially.
However, the group was criticized as a "black gold" organization because of the tarnished images of its key members.
The group's formation was also considered a potential catalyst in a much-rumored post-election split within the KMT.
Wang's father Wang You-theng (王又曾), chairman of the Rebar Group (力霸東森企業集團) and a member of the KMT's Central Standing Committee, said the potential harm to Rebar's corporate image and the exorbitant cost required for the election campaign were what prompted the Wang family to abandon the plan.
"Politics is a `side job' for us. Running the business should be our priority," the elder Wang said.
"Becoming a legislator was originally a good thing. But we aren't interested in taking part in the complicated political game and partisan struggle," he added.
The 46 year-old younger Wang, influential in both business and politics, has engineered the Rebar Group's expansion into the media industry over the past decade and established its role as a key player in those markets today.
He was elected chairman of the General Chamber of Commerce of the ROC (
Like his five other brothers and sisters, Wang was trained at an early age -- starting at the bottom of the ladder -- to become a manager and ultimately assume responsibility for the family's enterprises.
He was already an active member and leader of various trade unions in his early 30s and was elected as a legislator representing commercial groups in 1989.
To show his intention to become a professional lawmaker, he resigned from all positions in the Rebar Group immediately after being elected.
Despite this, his family background won him the reputation of being the legislator "most closely connected with business conglomerates."
Largely as a result of a rising movement against "money politics," Wang failed by a close margin in his 1992 bid to be re-elected to his southern Taipei constituency.
Undeterred, in 1995 and again in 1998, Wang won the KMT's nomination to fill one of its seats as a legislator at-large -- positions allocated to political parties according to their total share of election votes.
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