Don't forget Wang, says ex-DPP chairman

The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday initiated a series of events celebrating the one-year anniversary of party Chairman Ma Ying-jeou's (馬英九) inauguration on Aug. 16.

In the first of these, former Democratic Progressive Party chairman Hsu Hsin-liang (許信良) yesterday delivered a speech entitled "If I were Chairman Ma" at the party's Central Standing Committee meeting at KMT headquarters in Taipei.

The KMT also decided to seek advice from other politicians and prominent people in a forum to be held at the end of the month, and to publish a booklet on Ma's accomplishments during the past year.

Hsu said in his speech that Ma should not "neglect Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平)" while seeking to attract the best and the brightest people to boost his chances of winning the 2008 presidential election.

"If I were Chairman Ma, I would never neglect Speaker Wang ... If Wang were to leave the KMT, it would be very difficult [for Ma] to win the 2008 presidential election," Hsu said.

The new "single-district, two-vote" system, which will reduce the number of legislative seats from 225 to 113 after the legislative election next year, has created an overlap in Wang's and KMT Vice Chairman Lin Yi-shih's (林益世) election districts.

With the KMT planning to nominate Lin in the district while naming Wang as the party's first choice as legislator-at-large, Wang has promised to campaign for Lin, while declining to make clear whether or not he would accept the party's arrangement for him.

KMT Vice Chairman Wu Po-hsiung (吳伯雄) agreed that the KMT should recognize the speaker's importance.

"We five vice chairmen can all quit and let Wang be the only KMT vice chairman if he wants," he said.

Ma said he had the "highest respect" for Wang's opinions.

"I am not just saying it. I always ask Speaker Wang for advice," he said.

Meanwhile, the KMT's handling of the resignation of former KMT spokeswoman Cheng Li-wen (鄭麗文) came under fire yesterday as committee members Jason Hu (胡志強) and Chen Ting-yun (陳釘雲) expressed their support for Cheng.

"As a spokeswoman whose job it is to interact with the media, it's necessary to think or say something outside the box ... Party members should back her up," Hu said.

Chen also accused the party of being "unreasonable" and "harsh" by asking Cheng to move out of the house in which a business tycoon had allowed her to live.

"The housing issue is a problem that concerns her personal life, but instead of talking to her privately, the party's disciplinary committee told her to move out," he said.

Ma, who accepted Cheng's resignation on Sunday, said he would give their comments all due consideration.