Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

The government must grant medical parole to former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), not only for the sake of protecting his rights, but for the sake of social stability, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday.

“Since former president Chen Shui-bian’s health is failing, the DPP calls on President Ma Ying-jeou [馬英九] to respect the assessments of medical professionals and grant him medical parole, so he may receive appropriate treatment at home,” DPP spokesperson Huang Di-ying (黃帝穎) said yesterday. “By granting Chen medical parole, Ma would be acting in accordance with the two international human rights covenants that he signed, and which the legislature adopted as law.”

President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday officially resigned as chairman of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) to take responsibility for the party’s crushing defeat in Saturday’s elections.

The guessing game has started on who will be elected as the new party leader, with speculation rife among political observers over the reshuffle of power within the party and conjecture as to how the new lineup may affect the party’s prospects in the 2016 presidential election. However, whoever KMT members decide to elect as their new leader is their business; after all, revitalizing the party’s standing among Taiwanese does not depend so much on who is elected, but what mindset the new leader will bring to the helm of the party.