Chen says DPP inspired by its former chairman

President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) said yesterday that the DPP will continue to fight for Taiwan, just as former party chairman Huang Hsin-chieh (黃信介), who died three years ago, had done.

Chen, now DPP chairman, made the remarks at a ceremony at Taipei's Grand Hotel to mark the third anniversary of Huang's death.

Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮), Premier Yu Shyi-kun and DPP Secretary-General Chang Chun-hsiung (張俊雄) were also present.

The Grand Hotel is where the DPP was established in 1986.

Chen said that Huang was Taiwan's No. 1 hero and is forever chairman of the DPP because of his enduring spirit while facing great challenges under authoritarian rule.

"He always cared about the soil, cared about the country and cared about people. That's also the spirit of the DPP and we shall carry on in this spirit to fight for our motherland as Huang did throughout his life," the president said.

"It has been three years. But we still miss him," he said.

Huang died at the age of 72 from a heart attack on Nov. 30, 1999.

He was involved in the Kaohsiung Incident, a state crackdown on Dec. 10, 1979, following an anti-government parade in Kaohsiung that was organized by Formosa magazine

The ruling KMT jailed eight people for their involvement in the incident.

Huang is considered one of the prime architects of the political reform movement that gave the nation the democratic system it now enjoys.

In a political career that spanned more than 50 years, Huang was a major figure behind Taiwan's transition from martial law to democracy.

He was also the first DPP chairman to be invited by the Presidential Office to have direct discussions with former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝).