Former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) chairman Lin I-hsiung (林義雄) was tight-lipped during a TV interview yesterday in the face of questions about his plans for the 2012 presidential election.
“I will only give an answer another day,” he told Sanlih E-TV (SETV). “The subjective and objective situations are changing, and in a democratic country, no one should be obliged to reject the chance of holding public offices.”
Lin, who led the DPP between 1998 and 2002, remains popular with DPP supporters even though he quit the party in 2006.
He was jailed for his role in the 1979 Kaohsiung Incident. His mother and twin daughters were murdered and his eldest daughter severely injured in an attack in his home by unknown assailants in 1980. The murders have never been solved.
Lin’s main public role these days is as mentor to the Nuke-4 Referendum Initiative Association.
He warned that changes would have to be made to stem what he called the malignant competition among DPP members if the party wants to win the special municipality elections in December.
The elections will be held after an upgrading of Taipei County and the mergers of cities and counties into three special municipalities. The elections are widely considered key to the 2012 presidential election.
Lin also blasted President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and his administration, saying “they obviously have made Taiwan a part of China, and the Chinese Nationalist Party [KMT] a Taiwan agent of the Chinese Communist Party, with many KMT members vying for posts of sub-agents.”
“There stands a good chance for the DPP to return to power should President Ma allow the situation to continue.” Lin said.
Lin said, however, that the DPP could not simply hinge its future on the failure of the KMT. It should instead focus on cultivating talented personnel and winning the public’s trust, because a win would not make any sense for Taiwan otherwise.
He also criticized the DPP for not having carried out a thorough soul-searching following its defeat in the 2008 presidential election, adding that “negative competition within the party” was partially to blame for the DPP’s failure in that election.
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