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Premier supports Hsieh's 'CEO for premier' proposal

Premier Chang Chun-hsiung (張俊雄) yesterday lent his support to Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Frank Hsieh's (謝長廷) suggestion that the president appoint a chief executive officer as premier.

Hsieh told President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) that a former business executive would be able to run the government more efficienctly.

Chang said he hoped the proposal would be put into practice because it would have a positive effect on the nation's democracy.

"When I first served as premier, I proposed that the ruling and opposition parties replace confrontation with cooperation and build a `nest' rather than a `wall,'" he said.

Chang also said the public should not read too much into Hsieh's remark that those who seek to secure positions in the Cabinet are "shameless."

Chang and the rest of the Cabinet will resign on Jan. 28.

"We are not a bunch of people who have our hearts set on securing government positions," he said. "We are painstakingly carrying the cross down the road of democracy."

Hsieh's camp said that Hsieh's remark was targeted at members of his campaign team.

Hsieh campaign manager Lee Ying-yuan (李應元) said that Hsieh had been responding to a media inquiry as to whether his campaign spokesman Chao Tien-lin (趙天麟), DPP Cultural and Information Department Director Hsieh Hsin-ni (謝欣霓) or former Government Information Office minister Pasuya Yao (姚文智) would be appointed Cabinet spokesperson.

Lee said Hsieh had meant that any of the three would be shameless if they sought Cabinet positions.

Asked to comment yesterday, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said: "We [the KMT] do not have any comment on how the Cabinet should be organized because the new Cabinet can only serve as a `caretaker Cabinet' until May 20 [the date of the next president's inauguration.]"

Ma said he would focus on campaigning and propose candidates for Cabinet positions only if he won the March 22 election.

Additional reporting by Flora Wang
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