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PFP shrugs off shooting case breakthrough

"There has indeed been a significant breakthrough, and I am for making public the progress of the invest-igation."

Frank Hsieh, premier

Unimpressed by the breakthrough made by police in the probe into the election-eve assassination attempt, the People First Party (PFP) yesterday promised it would re-launch the March 19 shooting truth investigation committee and establish another committee to investigate the investigation's investigators.

Meanwhile, the PFP said on Monday that it will not mobilize a march on the first anniversary of the shooting incident. It conceded, however, that it was encouraging party members to participate in a procession organized by its Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) ally and other independent groups.

"We will team up with the KMT to form an investigation committee like the one that was dissolved when the last legislative session ended," PFP Legislator Li Yong-ping (李永萍) said. "We are here to reiterate that our resolve to pursue the truth behind the incident remains unchanged."

In addition to the committee, Li said that her caucus will make an effort to set up a subcommittee under the legislature's interior committee to gain access to prosecutors' and law enforcement officers' files of the investigation.

PFP Legislator Chou Hsi-wei (周錫瑋) called into question the breakthrough in the case, and requested that prosecutors make public a complete report of the investigation. Chou also said that his caucus will attend activities organized by the KMT and other parties or private organizations.

Li, who said that she will participate in the KMT's event on Saturday, added that her caucus will respect the free will of other PFP members.

"As many members have voiced their interest in participating in the event, we encourage our members to do so, and we will not ban them or our supporters from going," she said.

PFP Legislator Diane Lee (李慶安) said that the way prosecutors handled the case did not seem scientific nor convincing.

"I'd like to know where the suicide note is, where the yellow jacket is and where the gun is," she said.

Calling the evidence provided by prosecutors "flimsy" and "unconvincing," KMT caucus whip Chen Chieh (陳杰) said that his caucus will strive to amend the March 19 Shooting Truth Investigation Special Committee Statute (三一九槍擊事件真相調查特別委員會條例) to form the committee again to "find out the truth."

"I hope the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) supports the amendments and does not hamper or boycott the legal revisions if they are genuinely serious about finding out the truth," he said.

Lai Shyh-bao (賴士葆), the PFP caucus' deputy secretary-general, said that the establishment of the committee was an indicator of reconciliation between the ruling and opposition parties in the wake of the meeting between President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and PFP Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜).

"If the DPP really means reconciliation, it should support the formation of the investigation committee," he said.

Defending prosecutors' investigation efforts, Premier Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) told lawmakers on the legislative floor yesterday that prosecutors have never claimed that they cracked the case.

"There has indeed been a significant breakthrough, and I am for making public the progress of the investigation," Hsieh said. "I think that the direction prosecutors have been taking is correct, and that they should continue pursuing the leads."

According to Hsieh, he learned of the breakthrough on Sunday and instructed prosecutors to make public the information the following day.

"As expected, some people believe the story, while some don't," he said. "Of course, if the police turn out to be wrong, their finding will become a joke and they will have to be responsible for making such a blunder."
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