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DPP orders stop to infighting

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Secretary-General Chang Chun-hsiung (張俊雄) told party members to stop their fratricidal bickering over the role its veteran democracy activists played in the 1979 Kaohsiung Incident.

Senior officials have been criticizing each other over the forced confessions dissidents made after being arrested in the crackdown.

In a statement yesterday, Chang responded to DPP Legislator Lin Cho-shui (林濁水), who accused Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) on Tuesday of turning in her fellow dissidents in her confession of sedition in the Kaohsiung Incident.

Lu had earlier criticized fellow dissident Chiu Mao-nan (邱茂男) of acting cowardly during the crackdown on the rebellion against the authoritarian rule of the Chinese Nationalist Party's (KMT) regime.

Chiu Mao-nan is the father of DPP Legislator Chiu Yi-ying (邱議瑩), one of the initiators of a petition drive from 29 DPP lawmakers who urged President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) to "carefully consider" his choice of a running mate -- a move intended to scuttle Lu's hopes.

Chang encouraged party members to resolve disputes with wisdom, adding the party has come a long way in contributing to the nation's development as a democracy.

"Looking back at what we have achieved, I want to ask all party comrades to stay composed and to encourage solidarity. The DPP is a democratic party," Chang said.

"Before the legal procedure to decide the presidential and vice presidential candidates is completed, we must stay united and do our best to assist the presidential campaign," he said.

Regarding the controversy of Lin accusing Lu of turning in her fellow dissidents, Chang dismissed the validity of the forced confessions, saying the documents were "forgeries of history."

"As I worked as a defense attorney for the dissidents, I remembered one of my clients suffered from severe physical torture from the police. I made up my mind then that I won't show the confession reports made by other dissidents to my client because they contain false information.

The confessions the participants made during the Kaohsiung Incident only reflected one fact: the brutality and inhumanity of the authoritarian regime," Chang said.

Meanwhile, Lin said yesterday that he was sorry for accusing Lu of turning in dissidents and admitted his remarks were disrespectful to several veteran democracy activists, including Lu, who had been imprisoned for several years.

However, Lin said he still has issues with vice president.

"As a vice president, Lu shouldn't have made inappropriate comments about other democracy pioneers. Chiu is not the first one Lu had spoke ill of," Lin said.
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