Award-winning singer Jam Hsiao (蕭敬騰) yesterday denounced violence and called for justice after his van was bombarded with feces by two motorcyclists a day earlier, leaving his driver soaked with ordure and covered in bruises as he tried to stop the culprits from fleeing.
“I am particularly furious over how deeply my colleague was hurt by the attack. There is no way I will let the perpetrators off easily. I believe in justice and in Taiwan’s police authorities and the media. I demand an answer,” Hsiao said at a press conference in Taipei yesterday morning.
Hsiao’s driver bore the brunt of the assault, as Hsiao was sitting in the back of the van parked outside his residence in Taipei’s Nangang District (南港) when the two helmeted attackers hurled a bucket of droppings toward the driver’s seat on Monday afternoon.
Photo: CNA
The driver also sustained multiple bruises on his limbs after he was dragged 30m along the ground while he was trying to stop the culprits.
Asked if the attack could have been the result of a personal feud, Hsiao said he had never made an enemy, nor was he having any financial or work-related problems.
Hsiao said some of his colleagues had received threatening telephone calls and letters over the past three months, but he had been reluctant to make the matter public to avoid giving the extortionists the impression that he was using the media to bully them.
“However, what happened yesterday was the limit. I am furious ... and deeply sorry for what happened to my co-worker. At the same time, I am worried that something similar could happen to my other colleagues and family, so I really hope the police can catch the culprits,” he said.
Hsiao said the attackers were most likely hired by someone, but declined to say who he thinks is the mastermind. He said he would tell the public once his speculations were verified.
He reiterated that he would not succumb to threats and would not change his work schedule because of the incident.
Hsiao’s agent, Summer Lin (林有慧), said the threatening calls and letters all came from the same person, who claimed to be “seeking justice for someone.”
As to whether Hsiao would consider moving after the attack and an incident in July in which an ardent female fan sent a bowl of soup to his house at midnight, Lin said moving was not a permanent solution because people would still find him wherever he lived, adding that Hsiao has hired two round-the-clock bodyguards for protection.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
RSS