TAIPEI Taiwan AP The opposition mayor of Taiwan's capital city is locked in the political fight of his life and the strain was visible Tuesday as two rivals ganged up on him in the last campaign debate. Mayor Chen Shui-bian of the Democratic Progressive Party is running in a statistical dead heat with challenger Ma Ying-jeou of the ruling Nationalist Party as voters prepare to go to the polls Saturday. Chen's DPP party is expected to make minor gains at most in legislative races the same day so activists are counting on Chen to hang onto the office in Taipei. They hope that will give them a better chance in a presidential contest 16 months away when President Lee Teng-hui plans to retire. But Chen found himself on the defensive Tuesday as Ma and longshot Wang Chien-hsuan of the tiny New Party accused the mayor of stirring up antagonism between the native Taiwanese majority and the mainland Chinese immigrants who dominated the island's politics until the advent of democracy in the late 1980s. Ma and Wang warned that Chen supporters could resort to violence if voters throw the mayor out of office. Chen whose slumped shoulders and sandpaper-rough voice betrayed the wear and tear of a tough campaign did not respond to the accusations. Chen instead played up his career as an opposition lawyer and politician. He accused Ma of having defended the martial law regime during a 1980 dissident trial and said the DPP placed Taiwan's peace and security above partisan goals. Ma ``defended the rulers I challenged them'' Chen told the television studio audience. The Taipei mayoral race is the most closely watched contest in Saturday's elections which also include legislative races and a mayoral campaign in the southern city of Kaohsiung. Tuesday's debate was the last of five such faceoffs by the Taipei mayoral candidates. The latest survey results show Chen and Ma in a statistical dead heat. A poll conducted Sunday by the CTN cable station showed Chen with 36 percent support against Ma's 37 percent with 20 percent still undecided. The survey polled 1122 adults in Taipei and had a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percent. Losing the capital could severely dampen the DPP's hopes of taking the presidency in 2000. That would mean continued rule by the Nationalists with their less confrontational policies towards mainland China. The DPP of which Chen is a leading member and possible presidential candidate advocates Taiwan's formal independence a move Beijing warns could provoke it to attack. The mainland views Taiwan as a renegade province. As the televised debate turned nasty Chen accused Ma of halfheartedly cracking down on vice during Ma's term as justice minister that ended last year. Chen vigorously defended his own hard line against video games gambling parlors and the sex industry. That crackdown has brought a radical decline in juvenile crime in the capital of 3 million people Chen claimed. Ma said those policies need fine tuning and accused the outspoken mayor of being ``undemocratic'' in pushing his program. Ma also alluded to the high-profile case of a top Chen aide brought down for visiting so-called ``hostess bars'' where clients sometimes pay for sex. ``If a mayor can't respect the rules what should we teach our children?'' said Ma whose boyish looks and clean record have earned him the nickname ``sonny-boy Ma.'' APW19981201.1098.txt.body.html APW19981201.0070.txt.body.html