Claiming that the government is attempting to hide the truth, the pan-blue camp yesterday protested the news that the police may be closing the case on last March's assassination attempt, while the pan-green camp remained quiet.
"The March 19 shooting was clearly a political event. [President] Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) current position is dependent on those two bullets. If the case is closed now, the investigative team will be helping him escape the shadow of the two bullets of March 19."
"However, the entire situation still has not been explained clearly to the Taiwanese people and the world," said KMT spokesman Chang Jung-kung (張榮恭) yesterday morning, reacting to rumors yesterday that police may be soon closing the investigation into the shooting attempt.
Yesterday, a local Chinese-language paper reported that police are planning to declare an end to an investigation into the details behind the election-eve shooting of Chen and Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) last year.
The pan-blue camp has since said that the shooting was engineered by the pan-green camp to help Chen and Lu win the presidential election.
The outcry from the pan-blue camp produced a massive week-long protest last March, a short-lived investigative committee formed through the pan-blue held legislature to look into the "truth behind the shooting," and continual refusals on the part of some members within the pan-blue camp to refer to Chen as the nation's president.
At the KMT's headquarters in Taipei yesterday, Chang said that the party would work to establish a second investigative committee through the legislature in order to look into the incident.
The KMT even went a step further yesterday, holding a press conference to announce a NT$50 million award for any March 19 shooting "Deep Throat" that is willing to come forward to tell the truth behind the shooting.
The money for the reward, said the KMT yesterday, will come from donations from those in the public also hoping for the "truth."
The People First Party (PFP) yesterday also spoke against the rumors, warning that a hasty closing of the case might rattle the current political situation and doubts may continue about the legitimacy of the current administration.
Speaking in reaction to the news yesterday, Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) legislative caucus whip Lo Chih-ming (羅志明) said that the TSU has no opinion and respects the investigators' discretion in the matter.
However, added Lo yesterday, investigators should continue their search for the firearm used in the shooting, lest the entire investigative proceedings be cast as "flawed."
In reaction to the KMT's plan to establish a second legislative investigative committee, Lo said that the KMT would be better off putting more thought into its future direction rather than into the committee, which has already been the focus of intense debate in the legislature over the past year.
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