DPP’s Enoch Wu launches ‘clean campaign’ amid attacks

• By Jason Pan / staff reporter

Enoch Wu (吳怡農), the candidate of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in the Taipei legislative by-election, yesterday urged his opponents to focus their campaigns on policies instead of slander.

Wu said he wants to run a clean election campaign and will not engage in personal attacks, adding that he also does not plan to put up large billboards to persuade voters.

Wu is running for the legislative seat vacated by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT)-elect Taipei Mayor Chan Wan-an (蔣萬安) ahead of local elections last Saturday. His rivals in the by-election in Zhongshan District (中山) and part of Songshan District (松山) are Taipei City Councilor Wang Hung-wei (王鴻薇) of the KMT and independent candidate Hsiao Ho-lin (蕭赫麟).

Wu is director of the Forward Alliance, which offers civil defense training programs.

At a pre-election event yesterday, the KMT accused the DPP and its candidate of ties to organized crime.

Wang said Wu enjoyed “special treatment” from DPP leaders while he was director of the DPP’s Taipei branch from February last year to May.

“Wu was just a puppet,” Wang said, adding that he rose suspiciously quickly through the party ranks.

Wu has denied the DPP has ties to organized crime, saying Chao Chie-yu (趙介佑), an alleged gang member who was convicted of drug-related crimes, was expelled from the party last year despite being a son of a long-time Member of the DPP.

Wu said the DPP then began “purging” its ranks and expelled many other members it suspected of corruption and other wrongdoing.

“It is unfortunate that the opposition is trying to manipulate the public by saying that the DPP has gangsters among its members,” Wu said.

During a visit to the DPP adviser’s office in Zhongshan District, a woman asked Wu to take a firmer stance against the opposition’s attacks.

Others told Wu it was “useless to promise a clean campaign” and asked voters to ignore the attacks.

“You can’t run this campaign just talking about love and tolerance,” said another person, adding that the KMT is “the biggest criminal fraud group.”

Wu, however, said he would not go to such a “low level of campaigning.”

Just because he doesn’t engage in personal attacks doesn’t mean he’s “doing nothing. I just insist on doing the right thing,” Wu said.

Separately, Taipei City Councilor Miao Po-ya (苗博雅) of the Social Democratic Party said he was worried about Wu’s strategy.

Without active campaigning, billboards and banners, he would be at a great disadvantage, Miao said.

“It’s hard to get your message across at the neighborhood level,” she said, adding that giving interviews and trying to reach voters through the media won’t be enough.