The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) last night said it would demand that President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) clarify allegations leveled by prosecutors before it decides on referring him to the party's anti-corruption commission.
"The prosecutor did not say the president pocketed the state fund. The suspicious points in the indictment resulted from the president's need to protect details of the country's confidential diplomacy. We hope he will explain himself to the public," DPP Chairman Yu Shyi-kun said at a press conference last night following a four-hour Central Executive Committee meeting.
The committee also decided to refer first lady Wu Shu-jen (
Yu also offered an apology to the public and said the party felt the "deepest regret" over the turmoil the matter had brought to the country.
Shortly after the DPP's press conference, the Presidential Office issued a statement saying that the president, after reading over the indictment report, will make a public statement within two days.
The DPP is facing the greatest crisis since the party's founding 20 years ago.
It could be expected that reform-minded Young Turks in the DPP will urge the party to do some soul-searching and push for "clean government" reforms, while other elected DPP public officials concerned about their political future may attempt to distance themselves from the president and his indicted aides.
The DPP's practice of holding its public officeholders to high standards by stripping them of party membership once indicted will also be tested. If the DPP applies a double standard for the president, the party may risk losing voter support and prematurely seal its fate in next year's legislative election and the 2008 presidential election.
The DPP's presidential hopefuls in the 2008 election -- including Premier Su Tseng-chang (
A more immediate headache for the DPP could be a voter revolt in the Dec. 9 mayoral elections in Taipei and Kaohsiung.
Meanwhile, former president Lee Teng-hui (
Eric Chen had questioned Lee as a witness in the middle of September in connection with the investigation into President Chen's alleged misuse of the "state affairs fund."
The Taipei Department of Health yesterday said it has launched a probe into a restaurant at Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store after a customer died of suspected food poisoning. A preliminary investigation on Sunday found missing employee health status reports and unsanitary kitchen utensils at Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) in the department store’s basement food court, the department said. No direct relationship between the food poisoning death and the restaurant was established, as no food from the day of the incident was available for testing and no other customers had reported health complaints, it said, adding that the investigation is ongoing. Later
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