By Chris Wang / Staff reporter
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday condemned what it called DPP Legislator Chen Ou-po’s (陳歐珀) “inappropriate behavior” at the funeral of President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) mother, Chin hou-hsiu (秦厚修), saying that Chen would be referred to the DPP legislative caucus for discipline.
The DPP issued a statement after Chen went to the funeral early yesterday morning uninvited and expressed displeasure at what he said was an inadequate reception at the funeral home, which media described as a “disturbance.”
Chin died on Friday at the age of 93.
DPP spokesperson Xavier Chang (張惇涵) said the party apologized to Ma about Chen’s conduct and immediately referred the case to the DPP caucus.
According to DPP regulations, Chen could face a warning, suspension of his right to attend caucus meetings or suspension of his party membership.
In a statement released later yesterday, Chen said he had contacted the Presidential Office’s Public Affairs Office and the National Security Bureau before his visit and that he had not intended to offend the Ma family.
Chen said he attended the ceremony to pay tribute to the deceased and “made a suggestion” to Ma’s aides that they should have made better arrangements for people who wished to mourn Chin.
He said he did not throw a tantrum and that his reaction had been blown out of proportion by the media.
“I hope the controversy stops right here. And I apologize to President Ma and his family if they were unhappy with what happened,” Chen said in the press release.
However, Chen was displeased with the way the DPP headquarters handled the issue, saying that no one contacted him to hear his side of the story.
Chen was also in the spotlight last week, when he staged his own hunger strike in support of former DPP chairman Lin I-hsiung’s (林義雄) hunger strike against the construction of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant in New Taipei City’s Gongliao District (貢寮). Chen was sent to the hospital after four days.
In response to the controversy, DPP caucus chief secretary Wu Ping-jui (吳秉叡) said the incident would be discussed in a caucus meeting after a thorough investigation.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators Wu Yu-sheng (吳育昇), Alex Fai (費鴻泰) and Lo Shu-lei (羅淑蕾) accused Chen of discourtesy, with Wu saying that the DPP should formally apologize to Ma and his family.