By Chris Wang / Staff reporter
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) will always stand on the side of the people and will never be a party “waiting for its rivals to fail,” DPP Chairman Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) said yesterday in his New Year’s Day message.
Su lamented President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) poor performance over the past year, but had high hopes for the DPP, which he said “has always been a people’s party,” to safeguard people’s rights and alleviate their suffering in the coming year.
Su defended his party, which has been criticized by some as passive and inactive, saying that the DPP had presented corresponding initiatives to all of the government’s controversial and unpopular policies — such as its economic stimulus package, the year-end bonus for retired civil servants and nuclear power, as well as increases in fuel and electricity prices — despite them being blocked by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) in the legislature.
The DPP will this year advocate pension reform in the spirit of social consolidation, push for the central government to share power with local governments, and for guidelines for local governance to align cities and counties governed by the DPP, Su said.
Separately, Su played down his low approval ratings compared with those of former DPP chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) in a public opinion poll conducted and released by the Chinese-language China Times yesterday, saying the results stem from a grudge the newspaper holds against him.
The survey showed that 41 percent of respondents picked Tsai as the most respected DPP leader, while Su trailed far behind with 22 percent.
Su said his vocal opposition to the controversial Next Media Group deal was believed to be the reason why the newspaper, part of a consortium that aims to buy the group, conducted such a poll.
Tsai, in response to media inqueries, said the poll “did not mean anything at this moment.”