Taiwanese Skeptical of Chen Shooting Story

The Taiwanese government’s disclosure Monday that the top suspect in last year’s apparent assassination attempt on President Chen Shui-bian had committed suicide was greeted with suspicion by opposition politicians.

The announcement left many Taiwanese skeptical. The opposition, which believes it was robbed of the election because of last-minute sympathy votes for the ruling party, said the government’s latest account of the shooting sounded fishy.

“Now they’re accusing dead suspects in the case,” said Chang Jung-kung, an opposition Nationalist Party spokesman. “There’s little pretext of reality here.”

According to government investigators, Chen Yi-hsiung, an unemployed worker at a building materials company grew angry early last year after finding himself down on his luck. He had tried selling the family house in the southern city of Tainan, but was unable to find a buyer in the weak real estate market.

Citing documents and interviews with family members, investigators said Chen Yi-hsiung had blamed the president for his problems, and was convinced the administration was weakening the local economy.

Investigators said they believed that the disgruntled suspect had purchased a home-made pistol and some bullets from a gang in January 2004. He allegedly shot the president at a Tainan rally March 19, a day before the national election that saw the incumbent reelected by less than 0.2% of the votes cast.

The bullets wounded President Chen in the stomach and Vice President Annette Lu in the right knee as they campaigned in an open jeep. According to three videotapes that captured the shooting, a bald man in a yellow coat was identified as the prime suspect. The man “ran and then slowed to a walk, and then walked quickly,” said Hou Yu-ih, commissioner of the Criminal Investigation Bureau. “He did not walk toward his home but in the opposite direction.”

Police said Chen Yi-hsiung was one of 119 suspects, but they didn’t have enough evidence to detain him.

Chen Yi-hsiung remained quiet for several days after the shooting, Hou said. At one point, the suspect’s wife reportedly asked him if he had committed the shooting after she had seen the footage on television.

“I will handle what I did,” she quoted him as replying, Hou said.

Chen Yi-hsiung reportedly burned his yellow jacket March 26, and then left home two days later on his motorcycle. His body was found the next day, tangled in a fishing net in the sea.

He left three notes for his wife, son and daughters, saying life had deteriorated rapidly after the president was elected, investigators said.

“I really appreciate your contribution to the family,” he wrote to his wife, according to authorities. “I can’t do anything to change this society, and I’m old already and can’t change anything. I will leave ahead of you.”

After finding the body and the notes, his family reportedly decided to cremate the body quickly, concerned that authorities might find out. According to neighbors, there was no funeral and until recently they didn’t even know the man was dead, investigators said. The family reportedly burned at least two of the letters he had left for them.

Investigators said they continued questioning the family, who only recently agreed to cooperate.

“It is not only you don’t understand what kind of person my father-in-law is,” Chen Yi-hsiung’s daughter-in-law told reporters Monday, without identifying herself by name. “We don’t understand him either. I don’t exclude the possibility he is the shooter.”

But Interior Minister Su Jia-chyuan argued that there was no way the investigation could have been manipulated for political purposes, citing the numerous policemen and prosecutors involved in the inquiry. “The outcome would be believed by those who would believe it,” he said. “And for those who don’t believe it, nothing will do.”

The opposition plans to hold a demonstration March 19, the anniversary of the shooting. “If this can be called a case closed, I believe the international community and people in Taiwan would keep challenging Chen Shui-bian’s legitimacy,” Nationalist spokesman Chang said.

Times staff writer Magnier reported from Beijing and special correspondent Tsai from Taipei.