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I am not responsible for what I said, Sisy Chen says

"Statements I made ... were not my personal opinion."

Sisy Chen, independent legislator

Independent Legislator Sisy Chen (陳文茜) yesterday called on the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) not to blame her for the KMT-People First Party (PFP) alliance's defeat in last month's election.

She also said that all of the allegations she made on the eve of the election concerning the assassination attempt on President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) were based on information provided by the alliance's campaign headquarters, in an apparent challenge to the veracity of comments made by Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou on March 19.

Her remarks came in the midst of a storm of criticism from a number of pan-blue legislators who, believing that her baseless allegations at the March 19 press conference had provoked resentment in undecided voters and may have drawn support to President Chen Shui-bian, and that she should be responsible for the defeat of the alliance in the March 20 presidential election.

On Monday, KMT Spokesman Alex Tsai (蔡正元) directed the blame for the pan-blues' election defeat to Sisy Chen, saying that there were party members who thought that it was because party Secretary-General Lin Feng-cheng (林豐正) "put too much trust in Sisy Chen" that as a result ended in the party losing the presidential election last month.

Defending herself, Sisy Chen placed a phone call to a call-in TV talk show late Monday night.

The topic of the call-in program then was whether Sisy Chen should be responsible for the pan-blue camp's defeat in the election.

Sisy Chen, a former spokeswoman for the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) who now supports the pan-blue camp and has been acting as its "advisor," held a press conference at the KMT-PFP alliance's campaign headquarters at midnight on March 19, saying that the hospital had faked the medical records of Chen Shui-bian and Lu, who were shot and wounded in an assassination attempt earlier that afternoon.

At the press conference -- with Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) also present in his capacity as the national chief of the alliance's campaign -- Sisy Chen insinuated that the shooting was "just a trick" to win sympathy and claimed to have information from "an anonymous nurse" that the national security system was involved in the conspiracy. She has not at any time produced evidence to back her claims.

"Statements I made during the March 19 press conference relevant to the election-eve shooting [of Chen Shui-bian and Lu] were not my personal opinion," Sisy Chen said on Monday, contradicting a statement made on March 19 by Ma.

At the press conference, Ma made a point of saying that everything Sisy Chen said during the conference was her own opinion. At that time she did not contest his assertion, and told reporters that Ma included the disclaimer with her acquiesence.

A number of pan-blue legislators believe that her "wild allegations" at the March 19 press conference had turned off undecided voters and led them to support Chen Shui-bian.

"I can tell everyone that all the information was provided by the [KMT-PFP] alliance's national campaign headquarters," she said, adding that KMT Chairman Lien Chan (連戰), PFP Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜), Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) -- who then doubled as the director-general of the alliance's national campaign -- and Ma knew about what she was going to say at the press conference before it was held.

In response to Sisy Chen's remarks, Ma yesterday said that although he was present at the press conference, he knew only part of what she was going to say at the press conference beforehand.

Although not a member of the alliance, the sharp-tongued Sisy Chen, one of the president's most obdurate critics, has been a great boost to the pan-blue camp. While her opinions and advice had been valued by the alliance's leaders, she also drew ire from some members of the pan-blue camp, who accused her of meddling.
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