Having long enjoyed courteous treatment from the pan-blue camp, independent Legislator Sisy Chen (陳文茜) fell from grace this past week, becoming a target for blue-camp lawmakers.
Believing that her baseless allegations at the March 19 press conference with regard to the assassination attempt on President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) had provoked resentment among undecided voters and shifted support to Chen Shui-bian, a number of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators said Sisy Chen ought to be held responsible for the KMT-People First Party (PFP) alliance's defeat in last month's presidential election.
TAIPEI TIMES FILE PHOTO
Chen Shui-bian and Lu defeated the ticket of KMT Chairman Lien Chan (連戰) and PFP Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) by a razor-thin margin.
Lien has refused to concede defeat in the election and claimed, although lacking evidence, voting irregularities. The blue camp has filed lawsuits demanding a recount and seeking to declare the election a fraud.
Via TV and radio programs, Sisy Chen defended herself, saying her allegations were based on information provided by the alliance and that Lien, Soong and a number of key campaign figures knew what she was going to say at the press conference beforehand.
Although the KMT's criticism of Sisy Chen appeared to have come to a halt since Lien urged an end to finger-pointing, the brouhaha nonetheless shed light on Chen's intriguing relationship with the blue camp.
Known for her witty, sarcastic speeches and eloquence, the 46-year-old Chen had generally been regarded as a "bright and talented female" in Taiwan's political arena.
But given her bold and resolute manner, she projected a controversial image in the eyes of the public.
A Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) publicity chief from 1995 to 1998, Sisy Chen defected from the DPP after the 2000 presidential election. She has since become one of the fiercest critics of Chen Shui-bian and her former party.
Since her election in December 2001 as an independent legislator, she has sided with the pan-blue camp on a number of issues and was a driving force behind the pan-blue camp's publicity machine during this year's presidential campaign.
Although the upper echelons of the alliance appreciated and relied on her contributions to battling the DPP, her lack of official title or position within the camp generated resentment. Members of the alliance grumbled that she had too much influence and that she meddled in the blue camp's affairs.
Sisy Chen defended her role, saying she did not want "to get too involved" with either the KMT or the PFP and that she was helping out merely as a friend.
Her remarks at the March 19 press conference showed the level to which she was involved in the alliance's campaign affairs and her contacts with pan-blue leaders.
"It turned out that the more Sisy Chen talked [about her involvement with the alliance], the more clear it became to us how close she had been with the core of the party leaders," KMT Legislator Hsu Shu-poh (許舒博) said.
One reason why the KMT welcomed Sisy Chen's input was that she introduced new ways of thinking that the 109-year-old KMT seemed to lack, said veteran media figure Yang Hsien-hung (楊憲宏).
"It has been the KMT's longtime practice that subordinates do as they are told," Yang said. "Sisy Chen's joining the team brought in multi-faceted views and ideas to the KMT's otherwise rather systematic way of thinking."
An obdurate critic of Chen Shui-bian, Sisy Chen's skillfulness in media strategy as well as her former ties to the DPP gave Lien and Soong confidence in her, Yang said.
Terming Sisy Chen's relationship with the KMT and the PFP as "one of mutual interest," Yang described Sisy Chen as skillful at politics and public relations.
She "knows what power is and how to manipulate power," Yang said.
TV host Clara Chou (周玉蔻) compared Sisy Chen to the Empress Dowager Tzu-hsi (慈禧太后) of the Manchu Dynasty, who manipulated the 5-year-old Emperor Te Tsong (德宗) like a puppet.
"Sisy Chen is not a mere guest adviser [to the pan-blue camp], but is one like the Empress Dowager Tzu-hsi, who administered affairs from behind the scenes," Chou said.
Yang added that, "We should feel relieved that Lien was not elected, for otherwise one would be left to wonder based on whose orders and opinions the country is being run."
Sisy Chen has also been criticized for acting as both a legislator and a talk-show host.
She hosts a radio talk show as well as a nationwide TV political commentary program on a KMT-affiliated station.
Despite her declaration that she would withdraw from the media if DPP Legislator Trong Chai (
Saying that the public's long-held suspicions about Sisy Chen's dual roles in politics and the media were proven valid in her recent remarks, DPP Legislator Luo Wen-chia (羅文嘉) said, "All was far more serious than the public had imagined."
"If politicians do not know how to conduct themselves, we have to resort to laws and regulations to eliminate and preclude such events from happening," Luo said, adding that it is his aim to push for an amendment to the Broadcasting and Television Law (廣電法) to make it illegal for politicians to double as media hosts.
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday said it opposes the introduction of migrant workers from India until a mechanism is in place to prevent workers from absconding. Minister of Labor Hung Sun-han (洪申翰) on Thursday told the Legislative Yuan that the first group of migrant workers from India could be introduced as early as this year, as part of a government program. The caucus’ opposition to the policy is based on the assessment that “the risk is too high,” KMT caucus secretary-general Lin Pei-hsiang (林沛祥) said. Taiwan has a serious and long-standing problem of migrant workers absconding from their contracts, indicating that
SPACE VETERAN: Kjell N. Lindgren, who helps lead NASA’s human spaceflight missions, has been on two expeditions on the ISS and has spent 311 days in space Taiwan-born US astronaut Kjell N. Lindgren is to visit Taiwan to promote technological partnerships through one of the programs organized by the US for its 250th national anniversary. Lindgren would be in Taiwan from Tuesday to Saturday next week as part of the US Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs’ US Speaker Program, organized to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) said in a statement yesterday. Lindgren plans to engage with key leaders across the nation “to advance cutting-edge technological partnerships and inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers,”
RSS