President's first year chronicled in new book by aide

When President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) was sworn in last year, he vowed to be a president for all the people. A year later, one of his top aides has published a book showing how Chen has set about honoring that promise.

A weekly journal of the Presidential Office: The first year of President Chen Shui-bian was written by the deputy secretary-general to the president, Chen Che-nan (陳哲男).

Chen Che-nan goes some way in lifting the veil of mystery surrounding the president's activities, as well as giving the grand Japanese colonial-era presidential building a lively and human touch.

Chen Che-nan wrote in the preface that his idea in writing the book was to chronicle the triumphs and travails of working side by side with the president from his first days in office.

"There were many things worth remembering in this job. With the discipline of a student, I prompted myself to keep up the habit [of writing] every week for a year," Chen said.

Chen's accounts have been published by the Liberty Times every week on Mondays since June of last year. For this support, Chen Che-nan gave his thanks to Lin Rong-san (林榮三), the founder of the newspaper.

The Taipei Times is a sister publication of the Liberty Times.

The aide said one of his priorities in his first year was to assist the democratically elected Chen in ridding the Presidential Office of its autocratic reputation, so that it would become a place of the people. The book details the measures taken to achieve this aim, such as opening the building for public visitation and opening the plaza in front of the building to public gatherings.

The effort to make Chen a true people's president hasn't been limited the opening of the presidential building. The book also records the trips the president has made around the country in order to get closer to the people.

A Presidential Office source said that when Chen was first elected, he wanted to regularly meet with the media to exchange views on national affairs.

But this plan was dropped after opposition parties attempted to force the recall of Chen after the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant dispute erupted last year. Because of the partisan nature of the media, the president chose shelve the plan until the impasse was resolved.

Sources in the Presidential Office said the publication of the weekly journals was of great significance in the administration's efforts, as it was an important avenue to keep the public informed of what the president has been doing on their behalf.