The DPP yesterday launched its campaign for the Dec. 1 elections with a massive rally in Taichung.
Party heavyweights present included President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), Premier Chang Chun-hsiung (張俊雄) and DPP Chairman Frank Hsieh. (謝長廷).
PHOTO: CHEN WEI-JEN, TAIPEI TIMES
The rally was to raise support for Taichung mayoral candidate Michael Tsai (
Chen's enthusiastically received stump speech yesterday stressed his administration's four future goals -- to maintain stability, to conduct political reform, to recover economic prosperity and to consolidate a crackdown on "black gold" politics.
"[I] urge you all to support the DPP in its efforts to downsize the central government by a third and cut the number of legislative seats by half," Chen said, adding that he was determined to undertake these "painful yet constructive" reforms if given the power to do so.
Addressing a crowd in the tens of thousands before Chen, Chang also urged the public to help the DPP become the biggest party in the legislature so as to enhance the Cabinet's capabilities and performance.
Chang stressed that it was necessary for the DPP to dominate the legislature to facilitate the smooth passage of important bills implementing government policy. Only in this way could the government make good on the president's promise to turn Taichung into a high-tech manufacturing center, Chang said.
Chang attributed failure to achieve the DPP administration's three goals -- upgrading Taichung into a special municipality, and building an international airport and science park in Taichung City -- to a lack of legislative support.
He also blamed the opposition-controlled legislature for cutting NT$70 billion out of the Cabinet's proposed NT$810 budget for public construction projects, which he said could have helped create 24,000 jobs, adding that the legislature has also frozen the distribution of NT$19 billion in subsidies to Taichung.
In his speech, Frank Hsieh urged voters not to help the KMT return to power.
"Whatever the weaknesses of Taiwanese, we cannot tolerate the KMT's rule again. Let the KMT step down and become a truly minority party," Hsieh said.
Despite the crowds at yesterday's rally, analysts think that mayoral candidate Tsai faces a tough battle ahead, competing with the KMT's Jason Hu (胡志強) and incumbent mayor Chang Wen-ying (張溫鷹) who was formerly a DPP member. Attacking Chang for failing to eradicate the city's sex industry during her four-year tenure, Tsai vowed to do better.
"If I become mayor, I am determined to wipe out black-gold politics as well as the booming sex industry, which has now spread to school campuses," Tsai said, vowing to build Taichung into a city of culture.
The DPP, in addition, will hold three more campaign rallies in Taoyuan, Hualien and Tainan Counties later this month.
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