Mon, Oct 14, 2002 page3

• For many of the nation's leaders, politics is a family affair

  Many of the legislature's younger members -- and their siblings -- are carrying on a political tradition started by their parents, or even grandparents

  • By Stephanie Low / STAFF REPORTER
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  For those pursuing politics as a career, being a member of a political family can help a lot. In many cases, a political career is predestined by birth or by marriage into such a family.

  This is exactly how a number of sitting legislators have come to their positions today. Among them are members of the second and third generations of political families, as well as the spouses of family members.

  A typical example is the Kaohsiung County-based Yu family. This DPP-affiliated family now has two members in the legislature: Yu Jane-daw (余政道) and Cheng Kuei-lien (鄭貴蓮), wife of Yu Jane-daw's elder brother -- Minister of the Interior Yu Cheng-hsien (余政憲).

  

  Yu Cheng-hsien, left, helps campaign for his younger brother, Yu Jan-daw, right, who was running for a legislative seat, in 1998. Yu Cheng-hsien was Kaohsiung county commissioner at the time.

  TAIPEI TIMES FILE PHOTO

  The family, which gained political sway when Yu Teng-fa (余登發) was elected the fourth commissioner of Kaohsiung County, dominated the politics of the county for decades until Yu Cheng-hsien -- Yu Teng-fa's grandson -- stepped down as the 13th Kaohsiung County commissioner last year.

  During this period, Huang Yu-jen (黃友仁), Yu Teng-fa's son-in-law, was the eighth commissioner of the county. The 10th and 11th commissioner terms were served by Yu-Chen Yueh-ying (余陳月瑛), Yu Teng-fa's daughter-in-law. Yu Cheng-hsien later took over the position from his mother and continued the family's control over the county for another two terms.

  Extending their influence beyond Kaohsiung County, members of the family have taken turns running for a seat on the Taiwan Provincial Assembly and Legislative Yuan. Before Yu Jane-daw, who is now in his second term, Yu-Chen Yueh-ying, Yu Cheng-hsien and his sister Yu Lin-ya (余玲雅) have all served as legislators.

  While the Yu family's tradition runs back several generation, many young members of the Legislative Yuan are also carrying on where their parents left off.

  Three-term DPP Legislator Wang Hsueh-fung (王雪峰), daughter of retired five-term Taipei City Council deputy Wang Kun-ho (王昆和), first came into contact with politics when she was in primary school around 30 years ago.

  "When I was in fourth grade, I stumped for my father on his campaign truck," the former lawyer said.

  Wang joined the democracy movement while in college in the late 1980s. But it was not until 1992, when at age 28 she was elected a National Assembly deputy, that her political career took off. Three years later she won her first term as a legislator.

  Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁), another three-term DPP legislator, said he had never considered entering politics, having trained to be a medical doctor.

  "Influenced by my father, I ran for legislator after finishing graduate school and took to a political path," the 38-year-old legislator recalled.

  His father, Chen Che-nan (陳哲男) deputy secretary-general of the Presidential Office, held a seat in the legislature for three terms until 1994.

  In many cases, however, children of a political family have no alternative but to follow their parents' profession.

  Two-term KMT Legislator Lin Yi-shih (林益世), who was a dentist, put aside his original trade to join the legislative races in 1998, with a mission to continue the political life of his aging father, Lin Hsien-pao (林仙保).

  According to the 34-year-old legislator, he, unlike other candidates, was under extremely heavy pressure to win so as not to "disgrace" his family.

  A politician for 40 years who served four terms as a deputy in the Kaohsiung County Council and another four terms as a deputy in the Taiwan Provincial Assembly, Lin Hsien-pao was leader of a local political faction in Kao-hsiung County.

  Another case is Chiu Yi-ying (邱議瑩), a 31-year-old freshman legislator also from the DPP, who is daughter of former Taiwan Provincial Assembly deputy and democracy activist Chiu Mao-nan (邱茂男).

  According to Chiu Yi-ying, her father had planned for her political bid since she was a little girl.

  "I already knew when I was little that I would enter politics one day," Chiu said.

  Chiu Yi-ying joined her father's campaign team in 1994, which paved the way for her first election campaign -- the 1996 National Assembly elections. In the end she was elected with the most votes in her Pingtung County constituency.

  After becoming the youngest member of the DPP's Central Standing Committee in 1998, she enjoyed further success in December last year, winning a seat in the legislature.

  There are other legislators who have entered politics by chance, thanks to the contacts and resources their parents established in the political scene.

  The KMT's Wang Yu-ting (王昱婷) was only 25 when she was first elected a legislator in 1998. Wang, who is now in her second term, said she never intended to become a politician, having watched how her father sacrificed time with the family to perform his duty as a representative of the people.

  But she was nominated as a legislative candidate by the KMT for a seat reserved for women in her constituency in Tainan City.

  Another example is the DPP's Lin Tai-hua (林岱華), daughter of former mayor of Fengshan City Lin San-lang (林三郎).

  She was notified 15 minutes before the registration deadline that she was to represent the DPP for a seat reserved for women in Kaohsiung County in last year's legislative elections. And she succeeded.

  "My candidacy was totally accidental," Lin said.

  While support and resources from the family can help legislators win seats, they frequently have to work hard to prove that they are up to the job.

  Senior KMT Legislator Hwang Chao-shun (黃昭順), daughter of late Control Yuan President Hwang Tzuen-chiou (黃尊秋), seems to have overcome this problem in the 22 years since she first stepped onto the political scene as a deputy in the Kaohsiung City Council.

  According to Hwang, having an influential father did not guarantee that she would survive the test of voters.

  "People won't vote for a politician because he has an influential family background. He will still suffer defeat if his service wins little approval from the people," Hwang said.

  Likewise, the DPP's Lan Mei-chin (藍美津), who was elected a legislator last year after serving four terms as a deputy to Taipei City Council, was better known as wife of former democracy activist Huang Tien-fu (黃天福), or sister-in-law of late DPP chairman Huang Hsin-chieh (黃信介), when her political career began in 1985.

  Victory in re-election bids over the years and her successful advance into the legislature indicate that there is public approval for her that goes beyond her family background.

  "With my credentials in the Taipei City Council and service for my constituents, I've pried open a road belonging to myself," Lan said.
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