Ma to attend 319 shooting rally

Taipei City Mayor and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Vice Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said yesterday for the first time that he will attend the pan-blue protest march on Ketagalan Boulevard today.

"I have emptied my schedule for [today] to attend," said Ma, ending his long silence about the issue while responding to rumors that he is seeking to ease tensions between him and People First Party (PFP) Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜).

Over 100,000 people are expected to participate in today's march, KMT officials said yesterday. The event, entitled the "Democracy, Peace and Truth" march, is organized by pan-blue special interest groups such as the Democratic Action Alliance and the 319 Action Committee. The aim of the march is to demonstrate the pan-blue camp's dissatisfaction with the investigation into the election-eve assassination attempt on President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮). Today is the first anniversary of the shooting.

The assassination attempt, which the pan-blue camp claims was staged by the pan-green camp to win the presidential election, sparked a violent, week-long protest by pan-blue supporters on Ketagalan Boulevard last year.

The march will start at the Sungshan tobacco factory (松山菸廠) near Guangfu N. and Zhongxiao E. roads at 2:30pm. The marchers are expected to arrive at Ketagalan Boulevard at 5pm, where the special interest groups and the KMT will be holding an evening rally. The protest is scheduled to end at 7pm.

While Ma and his fellow KMT vice chairman and Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平), KMT Chairman Lien Chan (連戰) and New Party Chairman Yok Mu-ming (郁慕明) have all said they would attend the march. It remains to be seen if James Soong will attend.

While Soong has refrained in recent weeks from saying whether he would attend, the PFP chairman said it is doubtful he would do so.

Soong's silence might seem surprising, given he and his party's active involvement in the protests a year ago. But in light of the recent friendly relations between the PFP and the Chen administration, analysts say it would not be surprising if Soong shuns the event.

Despite apparent reluctance to join in the march, Soong was said to have criticized Ma as having shown "cowardice when there is a need to protest" during last year's election turmoil and as "having no room for forgiveness."

Raising flurry of media speculation as to whether Soong prefers Ma or Wang as the next KMT chairman, journalist and political commentator Fan Li-ta (范立達) said on Thursday that Soong was very critical of Ma.

Speaking a guest on the TVBS talk show News Night Club, Fan said that Soong had said, "Ma has no eyes and no brain. How can he win [the KMT chairmanship election]?"

Fan's about a phone call between him and the PFP chairman were confirmed by party spokesman Hsieh Kung-pin (謝公秉) on Thursday night during Hsieh's appearance on the TVBS talk show The Public Speaking Out.

During a meeting with reporters yesterday, Ma said that he had tried to contact Soong three times this week since hearing of the comments to initiate a meeting with Soong. However, he was told by PFP Secretary-General Chin Chin-shen (秦金生) that Soong did not feel such a meeting was necessary, according to Ma.

As part of the "anniversary" protest against the handling of the shooting investigation, the 319 Action Committee was set to hold candle-lit vigil at midnight last night. Over 50 members of the group, along with Yok and Wang were expected to attend.