Amid dampened morale within the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in the face of money-laundering allegations against former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), some party members have suggested a name change for the party to cut its ties from the former first family.
The Chinese-language newspaper Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper) reported yesterday that during a DPP meeting held on Monday discussing the crisis, some members suggested that the party change its name.
Some also suggested the DPP establish a new party to replace the it altogether, in order to publicly distance itself from Chen.
They suggested that the proposed new party could be led by DPP Chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) with a focus on stricter anti-corruption standards, the report said.
Tsai, who presided over the meeting, reportedly said that she could not dismiss a party that had been established by a number of prominent members who fought for Taiwan’s democracy.
RECOVERY, NOT RUIN
Her responsibility was to help the party recover, not ruin it, the report quoted her as saying.
DPP Legislator Chai Trong-rong (蔡同榮) told reporters yesterday that the name change idea was suggested only by a few members, and that it did not represent the majority of views within the party.
KEEPING THE SPIRIT
Echoing Tsai’s remarks, DPP Legislator Huang Wei-cher (黃偉哲) said yesterday that neither proposal was a good way to deal with the problem.
“People care about whether the DPP can maintain its founding spirit, not the name of the party,” he said.
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