Former legislator Ju Gau-jeng (朱高正) — who cofounded the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and earned the nickname “Rambo” for his combative personality in the legislature — died aged 67 on Friday, former DPP legislator Lin Cheng-chieh (林正杰) said.
“Ju Gau-jeng, a warship for democracy, died some time after 7pm,” Lin wrote on Facebook on Friday evening. “In Taiwan’s democracy movement, Ju Gau-jeng made a significant contribution. Rest in peace, comrade.”
Ju died of bowel cancer at Taipei Municipal Wanfang Hospital, Lin said.
The disruptions Ju caused in the legislature during his tenure from 1987 to 1999 played a role in forcing the retirement of older legislators who had been in power since the then-ruling Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) moved to Taiwan in 1949, Lin said.
Many of those legislators, who reconvened in Taipei in 1950, and others later elected in Taiwan, including Ju, had been serving a first term in the legislature before elections for a second term were held in 1992.
Former DPP legislator You Ching (尤清) said he appreciated Ju’s call to form a political party when opposition politicians met at the Grand Hotel Taipei on Sept. 28, 1986. The gathering resulted in the founding of the DPP.
Later that year, Ju, who ran as an independent, was elected as a legislator from Yunlin County, where he was born on Oct. 6, 1954. In 1987, he was sworn in.
He soon grabbed the nation’s attention, and that of international media, with physical altercations with KMT legislators in the Legislative Yuan, including taking a swing at then-legislative speaker Liu Kwo-tsai (劉闊才), and actions such as jumping onto the podium and knocking down microphones.
After his re-election in December 1989, Ju the next year left the DPP due to disagreements over the party’s move toward supporting Taiwanese independence.
He created a new party in 1991, which in 1994 merged with the New Party, which nominated Ju for the first and only direct election of governor of Taiwan Province. He lost to KMT candidate James Soong (宋楚瑜).
Ju was re-elected to the legislature as a New Party candidate in 1995, but was kicked out of the party for reportedly defaming other party members in 1997 and lost his re-election bid in 1998.
Ju moved away from politics and began lecturing in China.
Funeral arrangements have not yet been announced.
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