Calling for political neutrality in academic circles, former Minister of Education Wu Jin (
"Lee is the foremost leader in academia and I hope he will continue to lead," Wu said.
Wu is himself a member of the Academia Sinica and heads the Institute of Public Affairs at the National Cheng Kung University.
The timing of Wu's remarks has thrown further critical light on Lee's decision to throw his support behind Chen -- a decision that has raised extensive discussion over the appropriateness of academics publicly expressing their political preferences.
The Nobel laureate offered his resignation on Monday, indicating his intention to pursue his aspirations to pushing forward social reform -- and to avoid "any inconveniences" that this decision could bring to his colleagues.
In an apparent difference of opinion with Lee, Wu said he believed intellectuals should take a neutral stand.
"Only when academia is kept neutral can we [scholars] maintain our long-standing right to state our opinions on public affairs, fulfilling our obligation as intellectuals to care for society, watch the government, criticize current affairs and maintain the hope of the people," Wu said.
Known for his resourcefulness and courage in reforming the educational system during his term of office as education minister from 1995 to 1998, Wu was a popular figure among young people in public opinion polls.
His ideas, however, appear to have been too radical and sometimes unacceptable to the Cabinet's ad hoc Educational Reform Evaluation Committee (教育改革審議委員會) chaired by Lee Yuan-tseh.
Among his proposals was a plan to do away with the joint college entrance examination, which he said was an obstacle to true advances in Taiwan's education system.
He also proposed that Taiwan recognize university degrees from China.
During the current presidential campaign, both the KMT's presidential candidate Lien Chan (
Wu has so far refused to spell out his political preference.
Wu said his refusal was because he does not want to give a "standard answer" for people to follow, but only give guidelines, leaving room for people to think for themselves about who they should vote for.
"It is the worst thing in education to give students a standard answer," Wu said. "I'm not telling you who I'll vote for because that is my own business."
Wu instead called on young people to base their choice on the candidates' policies, rather than their "slogans." Wu said he believes the next president should step up Taiwan's localization, promote unity in society and seek the best interests for Taiwan in cross-strait relations.
Wu suggested that whoever is elected as the next president should initiate negotiations with China in an effort to eliminate cross-strait tensions.
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