Writer chairman post causes fuss

"Then this morning, we were told that Tu will take over the position. The reason we came is to elect a new chairman but we were shut out of the vote."

Chen Yueh-li, chief of the Colorado branch of the Association of World Chinese Authors

The announcement that National Palace Museum director Tu Cheng-sheng (杜正勝) would become the new chairman of the Association of World Chinese Authors created a buzz yesterday morning as some members expressed doubt about Tu's political stance, local Chinese-language newspapers reported.

According to the report, some North American members privately complained that Tu's past statements about politics should rule out his candidacy for the post.

The association's statute stipulates that the chairman should "keep aloof from parties and political ideologies."

The noted writer Chien Wan (簡宛) from North Carolina in the US said amendments to the association's statute and chairman candidates should not be solely decided by the seven executive committee members, and more members should be allowed to participate.

Political consciousness should not be aired in a body dedicated to writing, nor should literature be equated with politics, Chien said.

Chen Yueh-li (陳月麗), chief of the association's branch in Colorado made a similar comment.

Chen said 100 North American members flew to Taipei for the conference, but had not been informed of who had been selected as candidates for the post.

"Then this morning, we were told that Tu will take over the position. The reason we came is to elect a new chairman but we were shut out of the vote," Chen was quoted as saying in the report.

Faced with various differing statements, the association's secretary general, Fu Chao-hsiang (符兆祥), said the chairman was first nominated by the executive committee and approved by a majority decision and that politics iplayed no part in this literary body.

To assure the members that he would serve his post with a neutral stance, Tu said yesterday that he did not take part in any discussion about the election.

He was quoted in the report as saying that "I am an independent scholar, and I do not belong to any political party. I am neither a DPP nor a KMT member."

By contrast, Sang Pin-tsai (桑品載), one of the two Taiwanese representatives, had a laugh about these heated arguments. "Why make a fuss? The literati are not easily influenced."