Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) secretary-general-designate Luo Wen-chia (羅文嘉) yesterday said he would restore the party’s “brand image” by modernizing its surveys and improving its communication with the public.
Luo made the remarks at Buffalo Books, a Taipei cafe-bookstore he has managed over the past seven years, one day after DPP Chairman Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) announced his appointment.
“I have been out of politics for nine years and working at a normal job for seven years, so it is natural for people to ask why I am coming back,” he said.
Photo: CNA
“Frankly, I am not here for the DPP, Cho or President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文). This is for my children and parents like myself, who hope that long after today, our children can still breathe freely, speak their minds without fear and enjoy the fruits of Taiwanese democracy and values, which our forebears fought so hard for,” Luo said.
The DPP has lost the public support it enjoyed two years ago and part of the reason must be in the party itself, he said, adding that shifting blame to others would doom the party to more losses.
“I will use scientific and rational analysis, including opinion polls, market analytics and academic research, to discover those reasons and find solutions,” Luo said, adding: “The DPP has a problem with its brand image.”
While the DPP suffers from the effects of its bad image, its main rival, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), has not changed in any meaningful way, resulting in the rise of new political parties and independent politicians free from old labels, he said.
He would identify the problems with the DPP’s image and fix them before “the product goes up for sale next year,” Luo said, referring to next year’s presidential and legislative elections.
“The party headquarters should act as a platform to coordinate responses to issues that could negatively affect the party’s image,” he said.
It would take more than a year to build up the DPP’s image, Luo said, adding that he intends to form a professional infrastructure to improve communication with the public in the information age.
“The biggest problem with our politicians is that they are out of touch with society,” he said.
When asked whether he sees his role as one of building bridges between the DPP leadership and the party’s pro-independence wing, Luo said the party should be building bridges with all sectors of society.
“While many people think of a competition between the pan-blue and pan-green camps, I think of a competition between Taiwan and the authoritarian forces of China,” he added.
“The DPP should build bridges with all people, groups and forces that resist China’s dictatorship,” Luo said.
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