It is important that young people participate in politics so that the nation’s democracy and freedoms can be passed to future generations, former premier William Lai (賴清德), the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) vice presidential candidate, said yesterday as he campaigned for the party’s legislative candidates in Keelung, Hsinchu County and other regions.
In Keelung in the morning to stump for Tsai Shih-ying (蔡適應), Lai met with the public while visiting the city’s temples, traditional markets and commercial areas.
He was accompanied by Keelung Mayor Lin Yu-chang (林右昌), another rising star that the DPP is depending on going into the presidential and legislative elections on Saturday next week.
Photo: Liao Hsueh-ju, Taipei Times
One campaign stop was a Wu family eatery that has been in business for more than 100 years — being passed down three generations, from grandfather to grandson — where the DPP politicians sampled several dishes with other customers.
“It has not been easy for the Wu family to pass on the business — the skills needed to prepare and cook the dishes — for three generations,” Lai said. “It is the same for Taiwan’s democracy. We must pass on the torch to young people so that they take up the responsibility of protecting our freedoms and democratic values.”
Lai cited the pioneers of Taiwan’s democracy movement, the early founders of the DPP, who defied the authoritarian regime and the Marital Law era of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) one-party state, saying that human rights, freedoms and the right to set up political parties must be protected.
Asked about the presidential race, Lai said: “President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) is the only candidate who presented a policy platform to the public. She explained her administration’s performance to voters and talked about how she has provided leadership and direction to our nation.”
“It is rather disappointing,” Lai said, referring to the race. “Taiwanese wanted to see a race for the presidency that had a high level of style, in which all candidates presented their policy platforms, with a positive approach and clear direction.”
Lai said he hopes that in the final stretch of the campaigns, the candidates of opposition parties will show how their policies could provide for people’s needs.
Asked about the passage of the Anti-infiltration Act (反滲透法), DPP legislative candidate Tsai Shih-ying said: “Taiwan needs this law right now. Even countries very far away from China have needed to pass similar laws against foreign states using money and political influence to meddle in their countries’ affairs.”
“About half of the KMT legislators chose not to show up at the Legislative Yuan on Tuesday, because they knew that the anti-infiltration legislation and its aims have a lot of support among Taiwanese,” Tsai said.
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