Former Taipei mayoral candidate Pasuya Yao (姚文智) of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) on Friday evening said that he is retiring from politics to produce a documentary about independence activist Peng Ming-min (彭明敏) and hopefully another about democracy advocate Deng Nan-jung (鄭南榕).
Yao made the announcement at an event in Taipei to thank his voters.
Yao had vowed to end his political career should he receive fewer votes than two or more candidates in the Nov. 24 Taipei mayoral election.
Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times
Of the top three in the five-way race, Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) garnered 580,820 votes, or 41.05 percent; the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) Ting Shou-chung (丁守中) received 577,566 votes, or 40.82 percent; and Yao received 244,641 votes, or 17.29 percent.
Cries that Yao should not retire from politics could be heard from the crowd as he took the stage to speak.
“It is my fault as the candidate that we lost this election. I let you down by not fighting hard enough,” he said. “The losses in the [nine-in-one] elections calls for examination and reflection, but more importantly, we should stand together in the struggle for Taiwanese values.”
The KMT’s campaign to discredit democracy in Taiwan and the world should be one of the most important lessons drawn from the elections, he said.
Yao said he is producing a documentary about Peng and talked about his hopes to produce another film about Deng.
When one supporter shouted that he should run for DPP chairman, Yao relied: “I am not going to have the time [for films] if I am the party chairman.”
Yao said that Deng is his hero and he has dreamed of making a film about him for many years.
“The idea of Taiwan as a country has to be deeply planted and Deng is the kind of heroic figure needed for a Taiwanese national identity,” he said. “There are many people from Taiwanese history that I want to make documentaries about.”
A pro-democracy advocate, Deng established Freedom Era Weekly in 1984, in pursuit of what he said was “100 percent freedom of expression.”
Deng, then editor-in-chief, set himself on fire on April 7, 1989, as heavily armed police attempted to break into his office, in which he had spent 71 days of self-imposed isolation after he was charged with sedition for the anti-government views expressed in his magazine, which published a draft “Republic of Taiwan constitution” in 1988.
‘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
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
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