The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has yet to figure out why it lost this year’s presidential election and remains directionless almost one year later, independence advocate Koo Kwang-ming (辜寬敏) said yesterday.
Koo, one of the most vocal heavyweights in the pro-independence camp, expressed his disappointment with the party in a speech delivered at an event organized by the Taiwan Association of University Professors.
“I waited for almost one year before expressing my views today. Did the DPP conduct a comprehensive review of the election to understand why it lost? From what I’ve seen, the party hasn’t changed and factionalism still dominates its Central Standing Committee,” the 87-year-old said.
Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei Times
Koo also expressed a particular displeasure with DPP Chairman Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌), former party chairperson and presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), and former premier Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) in his 90-minute speech.
The DPP cannot possibly hope to regain the people’s trust by waiting for President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and his Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) to fail, Koo said, adding that the DPP’s approval rating remained low despite Ma’s own dismal 13 percent approval figures.
Koo praised Su’s efforts to visit local communities and reconnect with grassroots supporters, but criticized the party headquarters for “taking people’s support for granted and sitting idle amid Ma’s incompetence.”
The DPP should have been more vocal in its efforts to recall the president and amend the Constitution, he told the audience.
Regarding Tsai, Koo said her US affairs campaign team had been understaffed, with DPP Legislator Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) serving as the sole aide. The campaign team had underestimated the importance of Tasi’s US visit, the mismanagement of which had significantly hurt her election bid, he said.
Koo said Hsieh’s remarks during his landmark visit to China in October were “inappropriate” and he disagreed with the former premier’s initiative of “one Constitution with different interpretations (憲法各表).”
“The DPP is the only hope Taiwanese have because the Taiwan Solidarity Union remains weak. The DPP has to keep up with the times and reignite people’s passion for politics,” Koo said.
Ma’s low approval rating reflects not only his “incompetence, carelessness and cold-bloodedness,” but also the people’s opposition to his administration, Koo said.
In terms of cross-strait relations, the senior politician said Beijing’s Taiwan strategy “has been a total failure” because anti-China sentiment among Taiwanese has increased.
“I boldly predict that China will not annex Taiwan by force because doing so could place its economy at risk of being hit by international economic sanctions,” he said.
CHANGING LANDSCAPE: Many of the part-time programs for educators were no longer needed, as many teachers obtain a graduate degree before joining the workforce, experts said Taiwanese universities this year canceled 86 programs, Ministry of Education data showed, with educators attributing the closures to the nation’s low birthrate as well as shifting trends. Fifty-three of the shuttered programs were part-time postgraduate degree programs, about 62 percent of the total, the most in the past five years, the data showed. National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) discontinued the most part-time master’s programs, at 16: chemistry, life science, earth science, physics, fine arts, music, special education, health promotion and health education, educational psychology and counseling, education, design, Chinese as a second language, library and information sciences, mechatronics engineering, history, physical education
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
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
Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) yesterday appealed to the authorities to release former Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) from pretrial detention amid conflicting reports about his health. The TPP at a news conference on Thursday said that Ko should be released to a hospital for treatment, adding that he has blood in his urine and had spells of pain and nausea followed by vomiting over the past three months. Hsieh Yen-yau (謝炎堯), a retired professor of internal medicine and Ko’s former teacher, said that Ko’s symptoms aligned with gallstones, kidney inflammation and potentially dangerous heart conditions. Ko, charged with