DPP legislator urges Shih to call off his recall drive

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Wang Shi-cheng (王世堅) called on former DPP chairman Shih Ming-teh (施明德) to halt his campaign to oust President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), which he said could only upset Chen's friends and hearten his enemies.

Wang suspected that most of the people making donations to [Shih] were being driven by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), noting that he based his speculation on rumors he had heard.

"The KMT recently made a huge fortune by selling its ill-gotten assets. It's a piece of cake for the party to ask its more than one million party members to contribute NT$100 each to Shih's fundraising account," the legislator said.

The legislator said that he admired Shih very much and didn't want to see him get hurt.

"Chairman Shih, please be careful that you don't accept the KMT's money. If not, it might destroy your reputation," Wang said.

In other related developments, the Democratic Action League, which has obtained a permit to use Ketagelan Boulevard on Sept. 9 and Sept. 10, said yesterday that it has invited supporters from Shih's "1 million people campaign to depose President Chen Shui-bian."

The league's convener Huang Kuang-kuo (黃光國) said since his group launched a "democracy night market" campaign at Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall on July 27, it has been engaged in a national campaign to drive the president out of office.

"We've been trying to stir people's social conscience, hoping they can rise above their political differences associated with the pan-blue and pan-green camps," Huang said.

Since the league and Shih's campaign share a common goal, Huang said his group would be happy to share the boulevard with Shih's supporters so more people can join forces and push for change in the nation's politics.

Huang said as the president appeared set on remaining in power, the league's national campaign would "wage a war of nerves" with Chen, a war Huang claimed would never cease until the president steps down.

Besides rallying on Ketagelan Boulevard in front of the Presidential Office, league members and supporters will also stroll past the president's Yushan residence to show their discontent with Chen, whose son-in-law and senior aides have been indicted on insider trading and other corruption charges.

Additional reporting by Shih Hsiu-chuan