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2012 ELECTIONS: Tsai
pledges ‘justice’ on Taipei housing
RENEWAL: DPP presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen
said yesterday she would turn Taipei into an affordable city with caring
communities if she were elected president
By Lee Hsin-fang / Staff Reporter
Democratic Progressive Party
presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen waves to supporters at the opening of the
Taipei City headquarters of her presidential election campaign yesterday.
Photo: Lin Cheng-kung, Taipei Times
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP)
presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday hosted the launch of her
regional campaign headquarters in Taipei City, where she pledged to make living
in Taipei affordable for less well-off people and young adults.
Tsai said if she were elected president she would accomplish her goal by
instigating state-initiated urban renewal and building social housing to turn
Taipei into a city with justice in housing, as well as encouraging a caring
society in which people would help each other.
“I will be the president if everyone of us works hard together — we will win
this election,” Tsai said to the crowd of supporters who rallied at the site.
DPP heavyweights, including former premiers Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) and Frank Hsieh
(謝長廷), former vice president Annette Lu (呂秀蓮), former Examination Yuan president
Yao Chia-wen (姚嘉文) and Taiwan Hakka Society chairman Chang Yeh-sen (張葉森), also
took part in the rally where the excited crowd shouted “Little Ing (小英) will
win!”
DPP spokesman Chuang Ruei-hsiung (莊瑞雄) said the party began its presidential
campaign with the objective to move northward across the Jhuoshuei River (濁水溪),
which separates Yunlin and Changhua counties, and now that the party is in a
winning position there, it would move up to the Da-an River (大安溪), which is the
northern end of Greater Taichung City.
“We are about to challenge the Chinese Nationalist Party [KMT] and take the
Tamsui River (淡水河),” he said.
In her speech at the launch ceremony, Tsai said she grew up in Taipei City,
which has residents from different ethnic backgrounds who earn a living doing
different jobs.
Taipei played an important role in the DPP’s early stages, so there’s no reason
for the party to move into a disadvantaged position in the city, she said,
urging supporters to help make the DPP the dominant party in Taipei.
She added that Taipei has, however, become a city in which only the rich can
afford to live and this is different from how she remembers the city of her
childhood.
She said that both the wealthy and the economically disadvantaged should be able
to live in Taipei and enjoy the convenience of the city. In addition, the
elderly, young people and the disadvantaged should also be able to have a place
in Taipei. She said that she would strive to make Taipei a city of tolerance.
Many people have complained that Taipei residents are cold, Tsai said, but
Taipei residents can be warmhearted, too.
Tsai promised that if elected, she would develop an elderly care network, so
that the state could help take care of families who could not afford to take
care of their elderly members or children. Each community should have a
community care network, she said.
Meanwhile, at a separate setting yesterday, while campaigning for KMT
legislative candidate Chiang Hui-chen (江惠貞) in New Taipei City (新北市), President
Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), who is seeking re-election, continued to attack Tsai over
the DPP’s legislator-at-large list.
He asked how voters could have faith in Tsai’s governance if she were elected
when the list and her campaign team included people who had been involved in
court cases.
Ma fired the same criticism at Tsai during Saturday’s first televised
presidential debate, in which Tsai responded by saying that “the entire team
should not be judged by the acts of a few.”
“If we are talking about the behavior of individuals, then I would like to ask
President Ma how many people in the KMT have been involved in election
irregularities or vote-buying,” Tsai said in her response to Ma in the debate.
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