Thanks to public concerns over mismanaged policies, the DPP's party headquarters plans to hold a number of policy conferences next month to prepare for President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) re-election bid.
The first set of talks is due to begin on Jan. 11 and is being organized, along with other future conferences, by the governments policy consulting committee that was formed last October.
The committee is attempting to paint a clearer picture of Taiwan's ongoing development and is scheduled to publish a policy whitepaper sometime between April and May.
It will hold a range of conferences to review problems currently plaguing Taiwan and the DPP -- problems that have mostly arisen out of disputes between political parties.
"If we don't do this, winning the 2004 presidential election would be impossible for us," said DPP Legislator Lee Wen-chung (
DPP Deputy Secretary-General Michael Yuo (游盈隆) was appointed the committee's leader, while legislators Chen Chung-hsin (陳忠信), Lin Cho-shui (林濁水) and Luo Wen-jia (羅文嘉) were selected as members.
Yuo explained that the DPP needs to formulate a sophisticated argument regarding further national development to convince the public and win back its fragmented support over the next 15 months.
He said that the committee would seek opinions from academics, professionals and non-governmental organizations from many different fields, such as education reform, financial reform and constitutional issues.
The committee's first project, the two-day Conference for Reform, which is scheduled to begin on Jan. 11, will promote the idea that key policies require immediate implementation before the 2004 elections.
Party members from the presidential office, Cabinet and Legislative Yuan will all be invited to attend the conference, while President Chen himself will chair the conference.
Lee explained that the party made some mistakes over the past two years, resulting in large demonstrations last month and its difficulties in clinching the Kaohsiung City mayoral election on Dec. 7.
"The conference will attempt to organize our policy implementation after suffering two difficult years under the current political and economic environments," Lee said.
In case the conclusions that the conference reaches are not put into effect, Lee and 10 other legislators have plotted an independent proposal that will ensure the crucial policies are considered. He said that the proposal, which include issues of unemployment and the three links, would be released as late as next Friday.
Under the plan, DPP members would promote the policies and the arguments published in the whitepaper through the media.
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