TAIPEI - After more than 100,000 people
took to the streets on Saturday at the start of an
open-ended anti-corruption campaign, hundreds of
protesters continued their sit-in demonstration in
front of Taiwan's Presidential House on Monday,
with the organizers vowing that they would not
withdraw until scandal-hit President Chen
Shui-bian steps down.
The sit-in protests
were led by Shih Ming-teh, former chairman of the
ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), who
vowed to stay until Chen quits. Analysts and the
ruling party, however, have
questioned the legitimacy of
ousting the president by launching street
demonstrations, arguing that this would damage
Taiwan's constitutional system, which has
mechanisms to recall and impeach the president.
Analysts are also concerned about how the
open-ended protests could end, as Chen has
explicitly said he will not be forced out by
protesters.
Echoing the themes of the
demonstrations, "A million voices against
corruption" and "President Chen must go",
protesters on Saturday adopted all kinds of red
apparel, red basketball shirts, red T-shirts, red
dresses, red headwear and even red earrings, to
signify their anger.
"We are sleeping here
tonight. I will not leave here before the corrupt
guy is deposed. I believe our determination will
lead us to triumph," said Shih at the square in
front of Presidential House at 10pm on Saturday,
where some 5,000 protesters were still present.
Frustrated with the first family and
Chen's inner circle's alleged corruption and
involvement in insider-trading scandals, Shih
initiated the "Chen must go" campaign on August
14, appealing for supporters to donate NT$100
(US$3) each to the campaign if they believed Chen
and his family were guilty.
The campaign
headquarters received NT$109 million from more
than a million citizens within seven days. The
accomplishment gave a big boost to Shih and his
colleagues,.
"Wiring money [to donate for
the campaign] is such a complicated procedure. If
people could tolerate it, of course, they would
take to the streets with us," said Chang Fu-chung,
spokesman for the campaign, who had supported the
DPP over the past two decades.
In
response, Chen reiterated his determination to
stay in office until the end of his term in 2008.
The DPP said the people's voices have been heard,
and that the demonstrations should end
immediately.
Chen is under investigation
for the alleged illegal use of presidential
executive funds for state affairs, which total
NT$35 million a year. His wife, Wu Shu-chen, is
accused of collecting irrelevant invoices from her
friends to redeem money from the funds. Chen and
his wife were questioned by prosecutors early last
month but were cleared of any wrongdoing, the
Presidential Office claimed in a recent press
release.
Chen's wife has also been accused
of accepting shopping coupons for the Sogo
department store and failing to declare her
jewelry assets. His son-in-law, Chao Chien-ming,
is on trial in connection with insider-trading
charges. Also, a onetime close aide of Chen,
former deputy secretary general of the
Presidential Office, Chen Che-nan, is under
prosecution for corruption and insider trading.
The Presidential Office's poor crisis
management has caused it to lose credibility in
many people's eyes.
On July 19, the office
stated in a press release that it had adhered to
all of the related regulations to redeem the
presidential executive funds. This was despite the
fact that the Supreme Prosecutors' Office had
already launched an investigation into the case
shortly after it received a report on June 29.
From late July, President Chen and his office
started to claim the money was in fact used for
Taiwan's secret foreign-affairs program, after
some irrelevant invoices were discovered among
those submitted for redeeming the funds.
Also, the Presidential Office changed its
story about the Sogo coupon case more than three
times, from claiming that Wu, Chen's wife, had
never received such coupons from the the
department store, to Chen personally defending his
wife saying that she had "never received any
coupon 'directly'" in his address to the nation on
June 20. Wu eventually did acknowledge receiving
coupons from the Chen family's doctor, Huang
Fang-yen, who has been accused of brokering deals
for the first lady. But Wu claimed she did not
know where Huang obtained the coupons.
The
local media's numerous speculative and often
exaggerated reports have sparked public anger. And
Chen further fueled the indignation over the cases
after he broke the silence to defend himself. He
questioned the origin of the opposition
Kuomintang's huge assets and cited another
politician's wife's failure to declare her jewelry
assets. In doing so, he gave the impression of
trying to "justify" his misdeeds by citing others'
wrongdoings.
"I don't want to see this
corrupt administration stay in power," said Jin
Shiu-lian, a 66-year-old protester from Taichung.
A 30-year-old financial professional, Barry Chen,
said: "We are here to express the public's
discontent with Chen."
Most of the
protesters, however, are not confident of victory,
because of Chen's "shamelessness".
In
response, the DPP said that the protesters' voices
are being heard and that they should leave the
square immediately. The party, however, never
elaborated on how Chen should accept
responsibility for his family's alleged
wrongdoings.
Insisting that there is no
direct evidence of Chen's wrongdoings, the DPP
chose to stand with the president and reiterated
that his departure should be decided through
constitutional procedures.
"Following the
democratic system is the only solution for a
fledgling democracy," said Chang Wei-jia, former
secretary general of the DPP's New Movement
faction. "But Chen should just shut up. He talks
too much."
Furthermore, some analysts
argue that forcing Chen out could set a dangerous
precedent, with future presidents being made
vulnerable to unfounded accusations.
A
recall initiated by the opposition parties failed
to reach the constitutional criteria, which demand
148 out of 225 legislators' votes for a further
public referendum, by the end of June.
Kuomintang chairman Ma Ying-jeou urged DPP
legislators to initiate another recall bill to end
the protest in the upcoming legislative session.
Acknowledging the impossibility of
recalling the president via the constitutional
procedure, a group of academics urged Chen to
resign. On July 15, 15 pro-DPP professors and
academics initiated a campaign, "Democratic
Politics and the Moral Crisis of Taiwan Identity",
urging Chen to take political responsibility for
his family members' activities by stepping down.
The event, endorsed by a petition signed by more
than 20,000 people, was canceled after the
academics realized the impossibility of creating
enough momentum to force Chen to step down.
The weather forecast suggests there will
be rain in Taipei this week. Organizers of the
demonstrations have declined to say whether their
campaign will continue until Chen steps down.
Shih, who has recently had an operation to remove
a liver tumor, said he has even prepared his will,
implying he is prepared to die amid the protests.
The Taipei Police Department granted an
approval allowing the event to last until this
Friday. Campaign organizers are planning a parade
on Friday and Saturday.
"The event is
significant to Taiwan's democratic development,"
said Philip Yang, political-science professor at
the National Taiwan University, "This will serve
as a warning to corrupt politicians."
Ting-I Tsai is a freelance
writer based in Taipei.
(Copyright
2006 Asia Times Online Ltd. All rights reserved.
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