Academics condemned the shooting of President Chen Shui-bian (
"This shooting is totally against human values, and it is an attempt to hinder Taiwan's fight for democracy," said Ku Chung-hwa (
Ku said that it was fortunate that nothing worse had happened to the president, which might have led to the unthinkable.
"It is total luck that nothing worse transpired, or Taiwan would have to face complete chaos where both political camps would point fingers at each other," Ku said.
Ku said that throughout history, violence has been a means to achieving political ends.
"Throughout the history of humanity, assassination has been a means to achieve political goals for politicians. However, such violence is to be condemned," Ku said.
Lee Shiao-feng (
"Whoever is behind this shooting is like the anti-imperialist Boxer Rebellion, which totally ignored what human rights stand for," Lee said.
The Boxer Rebellion was a group of xenophobic nationalists in 1900 who believed that their martial arts skills made them immune to Western weapons.
Lee also said that the shooter or shooters in yesterday's incident must have been educated under the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) system.
"At this point, there is no doubt that whoever was involved in the shooting incident was educated under the KMT system. However, I don't believe that the KMT did it, because it was not a judicious move at all," Lee said.
Yesterday's shooting brought back memories of the accident that crippled first lady Wu Shu-chen (
On Nov. 18, 1985, Chen lost his bid for Tainan County commissioner. As Wu was traveling around the county after the election on behalf of her husband to thank voters for their support, she was run over by a truck -- several times -- in a dead-end street. The driver never stood trial.
That day, Chen's campaign headquarter received an anonymous phone call warning him not to run for political office again.
A memoir about Wu, The Story of Lady A-bian (
Wu pointed out in the book that "I believe this incident had everything to do with the election."
The incident left Wu, then 33 years old, paralyzed from the waist down and reliant upon a wheelchair.
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