President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) delivered a public apology yesterday for not having performed better in his six years in office and failing to meet the expectations of many supporters.  
Chen pledged to do better in his remaining 22 months on the job. 
"I could have done a better job, but I did not," the president remarked at the Academia Sinica (中央研究院), where 183 academicians were attending a plenary meeting in the country's foremost research institution. 
He made the apology because of the presence of Academia Sinica President Lee Yuan-tseh (李遠哲) at the meeting. Lee had expressed support for Chen during the 2000 presidential election for his hardline stance against corruption. 
In 2004, Lee, a chemist and the first Taiwanese Nobel laureate, spoke for Chen again when he commented that the 2004 race featured a pair of candidates who lost the previous poll and were working to "pull down the elected from office" at all costs, referring to the KMT ticket of Lien Chan (連?) and James Soong (宋楚瑜). 
As Chen and the first family have come in for mounting criticism in the past two months from voters due to corruption allegations, Lee released a four-point statement last week to elaborate his view on the proposed recall of Chen. 
The prestigious scholar stated that he still upholds the value of power rotation in a democracy, but "the Democratic Progressive Party government has accomplished little and (become) implicated in many corrupt deals." 
Lee went on to advise President Chen to reflect on his performance comprehensively, suggesting that introspection would be a good recipe for ending the constant verbal attacks against him. 
In front of Lee, the president related yesterday that because of his negligence, "in particular I have to tender my apology to President Lee in public and in private since I have disappointed President Lee and the people." Chen claimed that he and everyone in the Democratic Progressive Party administration would engage in self-criticism and do all they could to reform and redeem themselves. 
In the speech Chen addressed Lee as "great teacher and good friend" whose advice has enlightened him and encouragement inspired him and other members of the government. 
Chen declared that in the remaining two years in office he would focus on stabilizing domestic politics and improving ethnic harmony and social cohesion.  
"I will reflect on myself and pursue reform," Chen vowed, while he also apologized for Lee's suffering when the many non-political issues he paid attention to and handled became politicized and boycotted by opposition parties and politicians because of his open support for the government. 
Hosting the four-day academic conference, Lee remained straightfaced when he listened to the president's opening remarks on the stage. 
Surrounded by reporters who asked him to comment on the president's pledge, Lee at first declined to make any remark. 
"Since the president has said that he will work hard to meet the people's expectation, people will be watching him," the Academia Sinica president finally said when trapped by the media.