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Related: Chen Shui-bian's family under fire over stock
scandal
BEIJING, May 20 (Xinhua) -- 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. Enditem
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