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DPP legislators worried about faction fallout

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chai Trong-rong, center, who is also convener of the Mainstream Alliance, is joined by DPP legislators Charles Chiang, left, and Hsu Jung-shu in taking down the alliance's office sign. The office will be shut down immediately in the wake of Saturday's DPP convention, which called for the elimination of factions within the party. PHOTO: LO PEI-DER, TAIPEI TIMES

Many Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers voiced concern that doing away with factions would create more contention in the party, not resolve it.

Legislator Gao Jyh-peng (高志鵬), secretary-general of the Justice Alliance, yesterday said the decision to dissolve the factions was an emotional resolution and could not resolve the party's predicament.

"The passage of the resolution just serves as a way for delegates to vent rage against the party and some specific factions," Gao said.

"I suspect this resolution will only cause more intense contention in the DPP, even though factions no longer exist," Gao said.

Legislator Huang Wei-cher (黃偉哲), another member of the Justice Alliance, said yesterday that it was important to carry out the resolution disbanding factions effectively, otherwise the public would think the DPP was undertaking "fake" reform.

"I'm worried that the DPP will only find itself in a more chaotic situation once the factions cannot play a role in communicating different opinions," said Legislator Cheng Yun-peng (鄭運鵬), who added that he did not belong to any faction.

The New Tide (新潮流) faction leader William Lai (賴清德) yesterday reiterated that New Tide would obey the resolution and said it's office was disbanding its personnel.

New Tide, the DPP's most organized faction, announced on Sunday it would close its office, and the members of the faction left yesterday on a trip to Japan.

Another faction, the Mainstream Alliance (主流聯盟), also announced yesterday that it would close.

The alliance's leader, Legislator Chai Trong-rong (蔡同榮), led faction members to the office and tore down the alliance's sign.

Alliance member, Legislator Wang Sing-nan (王幸男), who had proposed the resolution to dissolve factions, said that he was touched to see that more than half of the party's delegates had voted for his proposal.

It represented the launch of reform, he said.

In reactions to lawmakers' complaints, DPP Chairman Yu Shyi-kun said that the DPP's factional culture had come under attack from the public and opposition parties.

The passage of the resolution to dissolve the factions could be seen as a kind of self-examination and the starting point of the party's reform effort, he said.

The party's candidate for the Taipei mayoral election, former premier Frank Hsieh (謝長廷), said that the factions should conform to the resolution. Hsieh said he believed that dissolving them was a positive response to the expectations of the public and most party members.

DPP spokesman Tsai Huang-lain (蔡煌瑯) said that with the dissolution of the factions, the party's Central Standing Committee would become an important communication mechanism.

"All important policies will be formed in the Central Standing Committee and we believe that a collective leadership can be shaped," Tsai said.

Tsai said that Yu would no longer convene a meeting of faction leaders that was previously held before the party's Central Standing Committee meetings.
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