Outspoken Senior Presidential Adviser Koo Kwang-ming (辜寬敏) voiced opposition yesterday to the idea of a coalition government and urged premier-designate Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) to make good use of administrative resources in order to conduct a far-reaching reform.
A Central News Agency (CNA) report quoted Koo as saying "The ruling and opposition parties' political platforms are too different to work together. There is no need to form a coalition government. Instead, he should make full use of administrative resource to push for a large-scale reform in a bid to win people's hearts."
Koo also lashed out at Hsieh for saying that the name-change movement "remains a kind of social movement" and that "it won't be carried out as a government policy" until a national consensus is reached.
"I was so shocked that he could say things like that, and I don't agree with him at all," Koo said.
Koo said such remarks would not have been too shocking if they had been said by a member of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) or People First Party.
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) became the ruling party because its political platform earned the people's support, he said.
According to Koo, the DPP should stick to what it believes is right, given that the name-change movement has become a mainstream value that is upheld by the Taiwan-centered consciousness.
As for drafting a new constitution, Koo said the DPP has created an image of itself as lacking the self-confidence to carry out its political ideas.
Koo criticized President Chen Shui-bian's (
"Now, he is only talking about constitutional revision. Since the DPP's policy is swaying, it will create a lack of confidence in the ruling party," he said.
When asked how a DPP government could overcome the pan-blue camp's potential boycott of its policy in the opposition-controlled legislature, Koo said the situation has been like that for the last few years.
"Politics has nothing to do with making friends. You don't change others by extending good will," Koo said.
He said that although the KMT and PFP have boycotted the DPP's policies just for the sake of opposition, they can't boycott the government's policies systematically from A to Z.
"The Hsieh Cabinet should think about what administrative resources he could use to push its policies, which will bring good to the people," Koo said.
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