A Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislator apologized yesterday after he and his wife tied Muslims to terrorism and al--Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden during a high-profile campaign event over the weekend.
DPP Legislator Yu Tien (余天) called the remarks a light-hearted joke, but said he felt “deeply apologetic” to Muslims offended by his comments, which he made in front of thousands of supporters.
“We weren’t trying to connect Muslims with terrorists and we hope the public doesn’t misunderstand us,” Yu said in a statement. “We respect every religion.”
FORMER MUSLIM
The incident took place during the final night of rallies as Yu and his wife, Lee Ya-ping (李亞萍), stumped for DPP presidential hopeful Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) in New Taipei City (新北市).
Speaking to the audience, Lee, who described herself as a former Muslim, said she was like a “Muslim terrorist early on … like [Osama] bin Laden.”
Replying, Yu said: “People have been saying that I am afraid of my wife. Faced with such a Muslim militant, how could I not be afraid?”
FRIENDS
Although the remarks drew laughter from the crowd, organizers realizing the sensitivity of the comments immediately attempted to downplay the comments.
A statement apologizing for the gaffe was also released by Tsai’s campaign team late on Sunday night.
“[Yu] was a bit nervous; what he meant to say was that all our Islamic friends are very easy to get along with,” Tsai’s spokesperson Hsu Chia-ching (徐佳青) hurriedly told the crowd.
It is not the first time the gaffe-prone former singer has drawn controversy.
SLIP OF THE TONGUE
He apologized to Greater Taichung Mayor Jason Hu (胡志強) in September last year after he was caught on camera describing Hu’s wife, who was seriously injured in a car accident in November 2006, as “not being right in the head.”
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Friday condemned Chinese and Russian authorities for escalating regional tensions, citing Chinese warplanes crossing the Taiwan Strait’s median line and joint China-Russia military activities breaching South Korea’s air defense identification zone (KADIZ) over the past two days. A total of 30 Chinese warplanes crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait on Thursday and Friday, entering Taiwan’s northern and southwestern airspace in coordination with 15 naval vessels and three high-altitude balloons, the MAC said in a statement. The Chinese military also carried out another “joint combat readiness patrol” targeting Taiwan on Thursday evening, the MAC said. On
Singapore is to allow imports of Taiwanese raw pork for the first time in 15 years, the Ministry of Agriculture said yesterday. The Singapore Food Agency has approved imports of fresh pork produced by New Taipei City-based Cha I Shan Foods, which had obtained a Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) certification from the ministry to export to Singapore, it said. The ministry said it had hoped Singapore would permit Taiwanese fresh pork imports in addition to processed pork products. Singapore agreed to accept Taiwanese fresh pork after completing a document review and a virtual tour of Cha I Shan Foods’ packing
‘FACT-BASED’: There is no ban, and 2 million Taiwanese have traveled to China this year, which is more than the 285,000 Chinese who visited Taiwan, the council said The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday accused China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) of shifting the blame for Beijing’s tourism ban on Taiwan, continuing a war of words that started in the past week. The council’s remark came hours after its Chinese counterpart on Friday accused the government of creating barriers to the resumption of reciprocal group tours across the Taiwan Strait. The TAO accused the MAC of releasing untruthful information and dragging its feet on the tourism sector’s call to establishing ferries linking Pingtung County to China’s Pingtan Island. The MAC failed to respond to overtures to restore direct flights and raised the
Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) yesterday said the city “does not tolerate violence” after the Taipei City Council reported death threats over a planned screening today of a documentary on alleged forced organ harvesting in China. The council’s report follows a flurry of similar threats targeting theaters and institutions screening the documentary, titled State Organs, which accuses Chinese officials of harvesting organs from incarcerated dissidents and Falun Gong members. Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) city councilors who planned to screen the film told a news conference earlier yesterday that the organizers of the screening had received a threat of a knife attack signed
RSS