Frank Hsieh Apologizes for Breaking Vow to Leave Politics

Frank Hsieh Apologizes for Breaking Vow to Leave Politics

Sources: All Taipei newspapers

July 26, 2010

Former Premier Frank Hsieh was elected to the DPP Central Standing Committee last week, breaking the vow he had made during the 2008 Presidential election that he would retire from politics if he was not elected President. He apologized yesterday for breaking his vow once again and said that his judgment at the time had been mistaken. Hsieh argued that his decision to remain on the political stage to defend himself and the DPP was a consequence of the KMT’s consistent political coercion and attempts to alter the DPP’s history by “accusing me of being an informant for the Bureau of Investigation under the Justice Ministry during the Martial Law rule period.”

At the invitation of incumbent Kaohsiung City Mayor Chen Chu’s Election Campaign Office, Frank Hsieh yesterday delivered a speech at the youth cadre training camp for the year-end expanded Kaohsiung special municipality mayoral election in Kaohsiung County. One participant questioned him for breaking the pledge he made two years ago, “How can you do this? Aren’t you worried that your words and deeds will no longer have any credibility?”

He hesitated for a moment and then apologized once again for his decision. He said that his announcement to withdraw from politics did not mean that he would no longer safeguard Taiwan and over the last two years he had supported the DPP shadow government and the training of new political blood. However, he candidly admitted that his announcement to retire from politics had been a mistake, and he knew that the public would criticize him for his return to politics.

Hsieh stated that he was returning to politics because of his political suppression by the KMT ever since he lost the Presidential election, adding, “I cannot leave politics. My political opponents publicly make false accusations, but I have no stage to fight back, only a corner to make complaints.”

Hsieh went on to say, “I had been one of the 10 members of the secret committee that established the DPP. Therefore, a seat on the DPP Central Standing Committee is no challenge for me.” He explained that the KMT long claimed that he had reported to former President Chiang Ching-kuo about the details of the DPP’s founding procedures in an attempt to alter the history of Taiwan by embellishing the founding of the DPP as a favor granted by the suppressor. “I am extremely familiar with the founding of the DPP, so I must defend the DPP to the public.”

He told the young campaign trainees that this was a “society of rumors,” and about 30% of the people would not question even wild accusations. He said that the DPP currently had an edge over the KMT in the five special municipalities mayoral elections, and the KMT would resort to every means possible during the campaigns. He said that everyone present should be confident, collect evidence to counter their opponents’ criticism, and take actions to persuade their relatives and friends to support the five DPP candidates.

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