The informal debate between the presidential candidates of the ruling DPP and the main opposition KMT occurred while they were attending a colloquium titled “Dialogue between History and Politics,” which was sponsored yesterday afternoon by Chiang Wei-shui Cultural Foundation to mark the 80th anniversary of the establishment of the Taiwan People’s Party, founded by Chiang.

This was the first time for Hsieh and Ma to appear on the same occasion after they were nominated to run in the 2008 presidential race on behalf of their own parties.

Hsieh explained that the KMT has been a political power coming from outside Taiwan, because it hasn’t recognized Taiwan as its homeland, and hasn’t allowed others to recognize the island country.

“If you recognize farmers, workers and military servicemen, then the KMT would say you are a communist party. But if you recognize Taiwan as your homeland, then the party would say you support Taiwan independence,” Hsieh continued.

But Ma said that the KMT is no longer a political power from the outside, since former President Lee Teng-hui was elected via a popular elections in 1996.

Through the democratic process, the KMT has built its legitimacy, and has been no longer a outside-Taiwan party as claimed by Hsieh, he said.

At the seminar, Ma saluted Chiang Wei-shui, the founder of Taiwan’s first political party, who trailblazed democracy for the people of Taiwan more than 80 years ago.

Ma said Chiang, who founded the Taiwan People’s Party in 1927 after repeatedly expressing to the then-Japanese colonialists the Taiwan people’s desire for autonomy between 1923-24 — is a role model of “middle-of-the-road” politics and national spirit.

Chiang (1891-1931), who founded the Taiwan People’s Party in his capacity as a medical doctor practicing in Taipei City, aimed at requesting Taiwan people’s political and economic equality with that of Japan — earning himself the nickname of “Taiwan’s Dr. Sun Yat-sen.”

Ma said that Chiang, one of the most important figures in Taiwan’s colonial resistance movement, and his party, which lasted for only three years and seven months, made historic contributions to Taiwan’s democratization and social reforms.

He said that from today’s perspective, Chiang’s peace-trailblazing efforts were conducive to the peace-building process in East Asia.

Ma said Chiang’s pushing for incentives for farmers, equal opportunities for women and better care for the disadvantaged were important and critical, and remain so in today’s society.

On the same occasion, DPP’s Hsieh said that Chiang Wei-shui belongs to neither the KMT nor the DPP; instead he belongs to all nationals in Taiwan. Accordingly, “We all should respect Chiang rather than consume him,” Hsieh stressed.

Hsieh said that Taiwan People’s Party represents democracy and progress, as asserted by the DPP. Democracy refers to being your own master, and progress can be interpreted as “Taiwan first, culture first, underprivileged first, and the environment first.”

Chiang graduated in 1915 from the Taiwan Medical College, now the National Taiwan University College of Medicine. He founded the Daan Hospital in Dadaocheng, a western district in Taipei, and invited fellow intellectuals to the hospital to discuss contemporary affairs.

In 1920, he began participating in a movement to found the Taiwan Assembly. In 1921, he helped found the Taiwan Cultural Association. He was imprisoned for four months in 1923 and again in 1925 for his opposition to the colonial government. He was imprisoned on and off more than 10 times.

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