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DPP urges anti-Chen protesters to quit

Police yesterday block protesters from the Million Voices Against Corruption demonstration using wire barricades at the intersection of Zhongshan S Rd and Aiguo E Rd, just 50m away from the Presidential Office in Taipei. PHOTO: CHANG WEN-CHUAN, TAIPEI TIMES

As protesters continued a second day of their sit-in aimed at ousting the president amid heavy downpours, a Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) official yesterday urged people to call off the demonstration.

"The voices of protesters from the `Against Corruption Movement' have been heard by the president and by the DPP. There is no need for them to carry on the sit-in," DPP spokesman Tsai Huang-liang (蔡煌瑯) told a press conference.

Tsai said that President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and the party would try every means to begin a dialogue with former DPP chairman Shih Ming-teh (施明德), the initiator of the movement, in order to convince him to peacefully end the sit-in.

The DPP initially lashed out at Shih's rally, with a group of the party's members making comments criticizing Shih's character.

However, yesterday the party changed its tune.

"We take the sit-in rally seriously, and the rally's appeal has been heard," Tsai said.

Tsai said that the president had the sincere intention of communicating with Shih on the political situation and constitutional reforms, adding that Chen's resignation shouldn't be the only way for the rally to end.

On Saturday the DPP began the first of 125 meetings nationwide to declare its plan to establish an anti-corruption strategy and a draft for constitutional reform, which Tsai said was a positive response to Shih's call.

Tsai also criticized Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) for joining Shih at the sit-in.

"Ma, who is also Taipei mayor, should know that his priority is to lead the rally to a peaceful conclusion. The last thing he should do is to encourage the crowd," Tsai said.

Rumors abound of a secret deal between the DPP and Shih, in which the party would push for the establishment of a parliamentary system (as opposed to Taiwan's current semi-presidential system) in exchange for an end to the protests.

But both Shih and DPP Chairman Yu Shyi-kun yesterday dismissed such talk as idle speculation.

"As the Constitution is the fundamental law of the nation, the party will not regard any change to it as a bargaining chip for negotiation," Yu said. "Since the DPP is open to either a presidential system or parliamentary system of government, there is no question of `exchanging' the establishment of a parliamentary system for something in return."

Yu, who yesterday left on a seven-day visit to the US, made the remarks to reporters at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport.

Yu said that the party fully respects the sit-in rally led by Shih on the grounds that assemblies and parades are normal phenomena in a democracy.

"We hope that [protesters] take care of themselves and not catch colds during rainy days, and end the rally on schedule when the permitted time is over," he said.

Shih's group has a police permit for a round-the-clock protest through Friday.

As for the second bid to recall the president proposed by Ma, Yu said that he urged Ma, the leader of the nation's largest opposition party, to think twice about such a move, and think about whether the KMT really wants to waste national resources on another recall drive.

Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) made a similar appeal at another event yesterday.

Meanwhile, People First Party (PFP) Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜), who attended the sit-in through the first night, said that his party will launch another proposal to recall Chen in the upcoming legislative session.

The PFP and KMT jointly backed a recall motion against Chen, but the pan-blue camp failed to muster the two-thirds majority required during a vote on the measure on June 27.

"We need another recall motion to pass the legislature so that we can hold a public referendum for the people to exert their right to recall the president," Soong said.
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