Two prominent members of Taiwan's Democratic Progressive Party
(DPP) said yesterday they were stepping down as "lawmakers" due to
alleged corruption by Chen Shui-bian. This increases the pressure
on him to resign.
The defections of Lee Wen-chung and Lin Cho-shui are the first
major cracks to appear in the DPP since a prosecutor indicted
Chen's wife on November 3 for embezzling money from a special
"diplomatic" fund and said that Chen himself could be indicted when
his immunity from prosecution lapses after he leaves office.
Chen faces a recall motion in Taiwan's "legislature" on November
24. At least 20 DPP members will have to side with the anti-Chen
"lawmakers" for the recall to be put to an island-wide "referendum"
for final approval.
In a joint statement Lee and Lin said they didn't support the
recall motion because it could create serious rifts in society.
However, they said, they were leaving the "legislature" to express
their dissatisfaction over the fund scandal and other alleged
corruption cases that have embroiled Chen and his inner circle for
the past six months.
"Our party has had a glorious history but it has also made
mistakes," they said. "We're using this small action to make our
apology to the public."
The comment appeared to be aimed directly at Chen, who has said
he and his wife?were innocent of corruption, and insisted he
would?complete the remaining 18 months of his term.
Last week the DPP voted in a closed session to oppose the recall
motion. This move was attacked by Lee and Lin in their
statement.
"Our party (leaders) had promised before that once the
'president' was found to be involved in corruption he should
resign," they said. "But our handling of the matter has failed to
meet public expectations. We should have kept our commitments."
The statement by Lin and Lee follows the publication of an open
letter on Friday by a former Chen's adviser calling on him to
resign over the corruption allegations. In the letter Nobel
laureate Lee Yuan-tseh urged Chen to "admit mistakes" and choose
the "correct option" in dealing with the charges against him.
(China Daily November 14, 2006)