Print

Mail

wiki links

Yeh Chu-lan urges DPP to uphold core values

Former acting Kaohsiung mayor Yeh Chu-lan speaks to reporters at a meeting of the Democratic Progressive Party's Central Standing Committee yesterday. Yeh urged the party to return to the ideals it upheld at its founding. PHOTO: SUNG CHIH-HSIUNG, TAIPEI TIMES

Former acting Kaohsiung mayor Yeh Chu-lan (葉菊蘭) addressed the Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP) Central Standing Committee yesterday, urging the party's four presidential aspirants to be vocal in their support of the party's core values.

The party drew up many ideals in its platform when it was founded, but recently it had been too focused on next year's presidential election and primary poll, Yeh said.

Yeh, a member of the committee and the widow of democracy activist Deng Nan-jung (鄭南榕), said she was concerned about whether the party was incorporating the ideals of social justice, ecological sustainability and promoting local culture into its policies.

These core values should be given more weight, she said.

As an example, Yeh said the DPP should be paying more attention to the controversy over Lo Sheng Sanatorium and establishing policies that demonstrate to voters that "the DPP will not give up its ideal of preserving cultural assets."

"As it has gone from being an opposition party to the governing party, the DPP has kept its original goals and adjusted the way the party approaches them," she said.

"Lately, however, there has been some confusion concerning whether we still aim for these goals," she said.

That said, she urged the party's four presidential contenders -- DPP Chairman Yu Shyi-kun, Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮), Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) and former premier Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) -- to discuss party goals at the DPP's presidential primary debate on Saturday.

Yeh, who earlier this week voiced her endorsement of Hsieh, also stressed yesterday that her comments were not targeted at any specific candidate.
This story has been viewed 1665 times.