Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Secretary-General Chang Chun-hsiung (
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 (
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 (
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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