Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Taipei mayoral candidate Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) is no stranger to the ups and downs in politics.
Before announcing his bid for the Taipei mayoral seat in March, Su had been lying low since losing the 2008 election as the DPP’s vice presidential candidate.
Prior to this, Su had also kept a low profile after losing a re-election bid for Pingtung County commissioner in 1993 and resigning as premier in 2007 under the former DPP government.
However these setbacks threatened his political career, Su has always managed to make a comeback. Moreover, his latest attempt to return to politics — through the Taipei mayoral race — could pave the way for the 2012 presidential election, as he is considered one of the DPP’s frontrunners for the post.
Defending his commitment to the mayoral race, Su has said that he is looking no further than his current campaign, pledging to “do a good job and finish the term” if elected.
“Mr Su joined the election because he believes Taipei residents are rational enough to look beyond party affiliations and vote for a capable candidate,” Su’s campaign spokesman Lee Hou-ching (李厚慶) said.
A long-term aide who has assisted Su since the time he ran for Taipei County commissioner in 1997, Lee described Su as a politician who is precise, while being able to embrace new ideas.
Taking the advice of his campaign staff, who are mostly in their 30s and 40s, the 63-year-old candidate uses Facebook, Plurk (a local microblogging service similar to Twitter) and a personal blog to promote his campaign platform and interact with voters.
The traditional hard-line “deep-green” rhetoric is largely absent from his campaign. Su also started to wear pink polo shirts in campaign activities, softening his image as an aggressive and hardcore DPP heavyweight.
“Having served as a local government head, Su is good at interacting with the grassroots. He’d memorize their names and ask them about their family. Years of experience in politics have also made him more open-minded and tolerant,” said DPP Taipei City councilor candidate Lan Shih-tsung (藍世聰), who worked as the director of the DPP’s social development division when Su was the party chairman.
Su, also nicknamed “electric light bulb (電火球)” with his baldpate, worked as a human rights lawyer for more than 10 years before entering politics.
He joined former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), former premier Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) and other activists in defending political dissidents in the “Kaohsiung Incident,” a pro-independence rally in 1979 against the then-Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) regime that turned violent, and became a politician two years later when he was elected to the former Taiwan Provincial Council.
He co-founded the DPP in 1986 and was elected Pingtung County commissioner in 1989. However, he suffered his first major defeat in 1993 when he failed to get re-elected.
Su resurfaced in 1997 when he won the Taipei County commissioner election, saving the pan-green stronghold for the DPP amid corruption allegations against the incumbent, You Ching (尤清).
Su had a good record of governance and gained popularity serving as the county commissioner for two terms, despite accusations from the KMT that he left Taipei County with a debt of more than NT$80 billion (US$2.6 billion).
While Su was a popular figure among pan-green supporters, he lost the DPP presidential primary to Hsieh in 2007. However, he agreed to overlook any conflict and teamed up with Hsieh as the vice presidential candidate.
“Losing the primary was a big blow to him, but he spent like 10 minutes to gather himself up and told his aides to accept the result and move on,” Lan said.
The pair lost the presidential election in March 2008, and instead of staying active in politics, Su chose to spend more time with his family, who plays an important role in his life.
As a father of three daughters, Su said he lived in a “female dorm” surrounded by his mother, wife and daughters. He is often seen accompanying his mother and never hesitates to express his love to his wife.
“My wife has always been supportive and has remained the biggest calming force in my bumpy political career over the past 30 years,” Su said in his campaign blog.
His close relationship with his three daughters, who put their work and school on hold to help with his election campaign, also helped establish his image as a family man.
In a recent interview with CtiTV, his eldest daughter, Su Qiao-huei (蘇巧慧), described her father as being meticulous about everything, even when it comes to wiping a table.
“You need to fold the cloth twice to make it about the size of your hand, and then use the cloth to wipe the table from right to left. He thinks it’s more efficient that way,” she said.
DPP Taipei City Councilor Huang Hsiang-chun (黃向群), a close aide to Su Tseng-chang, said his meticulous style brought a lot of stress for his aides, who were often scolded if they failed to do things his way and meet his standards.
“He is harsh on himself and on his staff, too,” he said.
Expressing confidence in his ability to execute policies, Su Tseng-chang said he believed his precise and meticulous character would help in pushing for more efficient municipal developments.
“When I was in the Taipei County Government, one of my work principles was that no municipal projects should be delayed,” Su said, and promised to “make city development proceed more efficiently if elected.”
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
RSS