Former premier just cannot seem to shake his past

Former premier Chang Chun-hsiung (張俊雄) has been in hot water during the past week since news broke on Sunday that he had finally married his mistress of three decades, Chu Ah-yi (朱阿英), after divorcing his long-estranged wife, Hsu Jui-yin (徐瑞英).

Although it was widely known that Chang had been living with Chu while officially remaining married to Hsu, the news of his divorce still caused a stir in the political arena and upset women's activists.

Critics said that Chang's divorce was conducted for political reasons because he is hoping to become president of the Examination Yuan.

Examination Yuan members are scheduled to be replaced next month, when their six-year terms expire.

When President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) nominates the 19 other Examination Yuan members and vice president next month, he is expected to nominate Chang to take over leadership of the body.

According to the Constitution, Examination Yuan presidents are nominated by the president and must then be approved by the legislature.

Apparently annoyed by the ongoing spat over who should head the Examination Yuan, KMT legislative leaders Cheng Feng-shih (鄭逢時) and Lin Yi-shih (林益世) proposed on Wednesday to abolish the Examination Yuan as well as the Control Yuan through constitutional reforms that would result in a three-branch government.

To make matters worse for Chang, a women's group condemned his behavior as "providing the worst example to society on the issue of gender equality."

Defending his decision, however, Chang said that he finally decided to divorce his first wife because he wanted to end his family's torment.

He also dismissed criticism that he picked the wrong time to deal with his complicated marital life.

"As a public figure, it was hard to imagine a time when dealing with the problem wouldn't result in criticism," he said.

Law graduate

Before Chang entered politics some 20 years ago, he had practiced law after graduating from the law school of National Taiwan University and later passed the bar examination.

He became devoted to the democracy movement after defending some of those involved in the Kaohsiung Incident (美麗島事件).

The incident, which occurred on Dec. 10, 1979, was part of a crackdown following an anti-government parade organized by Formosa magazine -- a front for a broad alliance of the so-called "tang wai" (黨外), or "outside the party," activists.

After running in the election for mayor of Kaohsiung, in which he was defeated despite a dramatic apology by Chu at a campaign rally, Chang became campaign manager for Chen in the 2000 presidential race. He was appointed vice premier when Chen won the election in March of that year.

Chang was promoted to premier in October 2000 after his predecessor, Tang Fei (唐飛), resigned over his conflict with the president concerning the construction of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant (核四).

But the controversial power plant also proved to be Chang's most embarrassing political setback.

After announcing a halt to construction of the plant, the disgruntled legislature banned him from attending legislative functions, forcing him to backtrack and allow construction to continue.

Personal touch

No one knows Chang better than Wu Chin-chuan (吳靜娟), one of Chang's close aides, who has been working with him for more than 15 years.

Describing her boss as an honest, devoted and creative person, Wu told the Taipei Times that she is particularly impressed with Chang's insisting on attending to things personally.