Taiwan's leader Chen Shui-bian apologised to the Taiwanese public on Saturday
for recent scandals that have caused Chen's popularity to plunge to record lows.
According to Taiwan media reports, Chen said, "I'm sorry to everybody," and
expressed his readiness to make family members and friends who have violated
laws undergo the "sternest investigations".
"I will not shield their faults under any circumstances," he said on the
sixth anniversary of coming to office.
For the remaining two years of his final term, he has ordered all family
members to stay away from any public undertakings and not to seek gains for
themselves.
In one scandal Chen's son-in-law, Chao Chien-ming, a doctor, was accused of
insider trading and compelled to quit the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) on
Thursday.
He apologised but denied any wrongdoing and offered to donate to charity part
of the tens of millions of Taiwan dollars his mother made from trading shares in
real estate developer Taiwan Development Corp.
A telephone poll conducted by the United Daily News on Wednesday showed that
just 20 percent of respondents approved of Chen's performance, the lowest figure
since he won the 2000 presidential election.
A poll by the private Shih Hsin University gave Chen an approval rating of 16
percent.
DPP chairman Yu Shyi-kun also bowed and apologised on Saturday after putting
on a street cleaner's yellow-and-orange vest and doing volunteer work, pledging
to improve government performance and eradicate corruption.
Ma Ying-jeou, chairman of Taiwan's Kuomintang Party, said that Chen should
not only apologize for the actions of his family, but for his party, government
and many other things that have disappointed the Taiwanese.
In another scandal, an opposition deputy accused First Lady Wu Shu-chen of
accepting department store vouchers worth millions of Taiwan dollars from a
friend. Chen has denied the allegations.
