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PFP's Hsu gives reasons for ditching party

Sunday, Oct 21, 2001, Page 3

Lawmaker Robert Hsu, who recently broke ranks with the People First Party. PHOTO: TAIPEI TIMES

Taipei Times: What is this fray about between you and the People First Party?

Robert Hsu (徐成焜): First, I have never asked the PFP to set aside a place as a candidate for a legislator-at-large seat for me. In July, PFP Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) invited me and my wife to his house to discuss the year-end polls. I told him then of my intention not to seek re-election, having become disillusioned with politics. But he insisted I help the PFP fight the battle. On Sept. 30, PFP Secretary-General David Chung (鍾榮吉) met me for lunch during which he said the party intended to name me as a candidate for legislator-at-large, but he suggested I contribute NT$100 million to the party's war chest. I found the request insulting and turned down the offer on the spot. I have no connections to business interests and had never asked for donations during the last three legislative elections.

What angered me more is that on Oct. 6 the party went ahead and named me as one of its legislative candidates-at-large. They did so not because they wanted to reconcile with me but to use me, as I exert formidable influence over local politics in Miaoli. Due to my adamant protest, the party had no choice but to replace me with Soong two days later.

TT: Does the arrangement have anything to do with the fact that you are a three-term lawmaker and a successful businessman?

Hsu: Even if I had agreed to the nomination, there is no way I could raise such a huge fortune. By seeking so vast a sum from me, the party must have assumed I had engaged in illicit tradeoffs all those years as a lawmaker. Though not interested in a fourth term, I would still help the PFP the best I could. I have picked up the bills of the party's Miaoli chapter. But it is one thing to volunteer help and another to be forced to do so. It would be a blatant tradeoff, had I accepted the nomination.

How could the PFP trample on one of its founding members this way? Seeking to calm my anger, Chung admitted that the sum was exorbitant. He said that a KMT legislative candidate-at-large contributed only NT$50 million to the party's coffers in the 1998 polls when he worked as KMT deputy secretary-general. The PFP contention that none of its legislative candidates-at-large paid a cent for their candidacy vexed me even more. Why must I raise funds for the party if all others are spared from doing so?

TT: What causes you to feel disappointed with politics?

Hsu: Throughout my political career, I have been the biggest supporter of Soong and incumbent Miaoli County Commissioner Fu Hseuh-peng (傅學鵬). Since the downsizing of the provincial government, I've backed Soong, then provincial governor. I was the first one who pledged support for his presidential bid last year. When Fu ran in the elections of the now-defunct provincial assembly, I mortgaged my apartment to help fund his campaign. When he ran for Miaoli commissioner as an independent in 1997, I quit the KMT to demonstrate my friendship. But in the 1998 legislative election, he ostensibly backed my bid but in fact aided another. In the wake of my feuding with the PFP, Fu not only failed to show sympathy but spoke ill of me behind my back. I am going to take my grievances to the Miaoli residents so they know what's really going on.

TT: Did Soong try to patch things up with you?

Hsu: He phoned me a couple of times to offer an apology and asked me to stay at the PFP. He also asked me to stop criticizing the party. I am one of the few who were still around when he lost the presidential election last year. At that time, only former legislative speaker Liu Sung-pan (劉松藩) and I insisted on forming a party of our own while all the others, including Soong himself, preferred to rejoin the KMT. I told him that Lee Teng-hui (李登輝), then KMT chairman, would block his return. Liu threatened to quit politics if Soong failed to take his advice. Reluctantly, Soong agreed to form the PFP weeks later.

TT: How will you interact with the PFP in the future?

Hsu: It is impossible for me to attend PFP campaign rallies. As a small party, the PFP should have reaped benefits from the rivalry between the two main parties, the KMT and the DPP. Rather, the party has become the target of attack by the two. Even the tiny New Party has aimed its fire at the PFP. This shows that the PFP has adopted a losing strategy, mainly because the party is filled with members who have delusions of grandeur. They calculate that Soong's electoral backing can be 100 percent transferred to PFP candidates in the December polls. In my view, the PFP should refrain from the elections of county commissioners and city mayors, except in Miaoli, Taitung and possibly Nantou.

Soong should have volunteered to help KMT candidates in the other battlefields. Divided, the opposition camps stand no chance of beating their DPP rivals and opposition supporters may place the blame on Soong, dimming the prospect of his presidential bid in 2004.
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