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DPP calls on Ma to
step down
‘WORSE THAN WATERGATE’: Former DPP chairperson
Tsai Ing-wen said Ma should face his responsibility to the public and
contemplate his fitness to serve as president
By Chris Wang / Staff reporter
Democratic Progressive Party
Chairman Su Tseng-chang, standing, demands that President Ma Ying-jeou step down
at an event in Greater Taichung yesterday.
Photo: Chang Ching-ya, Taipei Times
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP)
yesterday called for President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) to apologize and step down
over his low approval rating and what they said was his infringement of the
Constitution amid the ongoing wiretapping controversy involving Legislative
Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平).
“We think that Ma is no longer fit to serve as president,” DPP Chairman Su
Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) said at a luncheon with Taiwanese businesspeople yesterday.
In 2007, Ma called on then-president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) to step down becuase
his approval rating at the time had fallen to 18 percent, Su said, adding that
Ma, who has an approval rating of 9.2 percent, should “practice what he
preached.”
The Ma administration has violated the principle of the separation of powers by
allowing the Supreme Prosectors’ Office Special Investigation Division (SID) to
abuse of its authority and wiretap members of the Legislative Yuan, Su said.
Most importantly, Ma, who pledged there would be no illegal or political
wiretapping under his administration, broke his promise and should learn from
former US president Richard Nixon, who offered his resignation following the
Watergate scandal in 1972, by resigning, Su said.
Former DPP chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) echoed Su’s call, saying in a press
release that Ma “should give serious thought to whether he is still suitable for
the job.”
The judicial system’s abuse of power in the case has been obvious and Ma could
also be involved in the scandal, which is why the fairness and independence of
the Ministry of Justice’s special investigation panel is questionable, she said.
Tsai urged the suspension of judicial officials related to the case, including
Prosecutor-General Huang Shih-ming (黃世銘), pending further investigation and
called for a special committee to be established under the Legislative Yuan.
“President Ma should face his responsibility, and the people, with honesty
because he was the one who sparked the political strife and the row is worse
than the Watergate scandal, in terms of the abuse of power and the ensuing
constitutional crisis,” Tsai said.
The DPP caucus told a press conference yesterday morning that the ministry’s
special investigation panel would not be fair because Justice Minister Lo
Ying-shay (羅瑩雪) already said that the SID’s wiretaps on the legislature were
“unintentional.”
The DPP is going to call an international press conference today to address the
wiretapping scandal and a party meeting to weigh in on its next appropriate step
among the four available options of recall, impeachment, motion of no confidence
and interpretation of the Constitution against the Ma administration, DPP caucus
director-general Gao Jyh-peng (高志鵬) said.
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