Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) member Harry Lee’s (李來希) criticism of New Power Party (NPP) Legislator Claire Wang (王婉諭), including his comments about Wang’s slain daughter, yesterday sparked a public outcry, prompting the KMT to distance itself from Lee.
“Wang has forgotten where she came from, using her own daughter’s head as a stepping stone,” Lee said, accusing Wang of exploiting her daughter’s death for her own political gain.
Lee, best known for leading protests against the government’s pension reform targeting civil servants, said on Facebook that Wang had no feud with Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), and therefore no reason to support Han’s recall.
Photo: Huang Yao-cheng, Taipei Times
“The head of ‘little lightbulb’ had been kicked to Kaohsiung by her mother,” he added.
Wang’s four-year-old daughter, nicknamed “little lightbulb,” was beheaded in 2016 by then-33-year-old Wang Ching-yu (王景玉), who was diagnosed with schizophrenia.
The Supreme Court on April 15 dismissed Claire Wang’s appeal and upheld a lower court’s ruling of life imprisonment and civil rights deprivation for life for Wang Ching-yu.
Photo: Tu Chien-jung, Taipei Times
Claire Wang said that her personal loss should not be used to create political confrontation and panned Lee for making such vitriolic comments.
She said that Lee was not the first to make such comments and she believed that a politician should only be criticized in the performance of their duties.
Lee’s comments underscored the public mindset that victims, or their families, must be “helpless and weak” and not be allowed an opinion, she said, adding that this mindset turns the public against victims when they try to appeal for redress, blaming them for “using the death of a family to advance their own cause.”
Despite the protection of freedom of speech, such malevolent speech should not be allowed for it contributes nothing to the nation’s advancement, Wang said.
NPP Chairman Chiu Hsien-chih (邱顯智) strongly condemned Lee’s comments, calling on Han, who has long called for open-mindedness, and the KMT to make known their stance regarding such malignant commentary.
The KMT does not condone Lee’s commentary and urges him to issue an apology, KMT Culture and Communications Committee chair Alicia Wang (王育敏) said.
The party, like Han, feels that Lee’s comments was rubbing salt in Wang’s wounds and the death of a child should not be talked about in such a manner, Alicia Wang said.
KMT Chairman Johnny Chiang (江啟臣) said on Facebook that Lee’s manipulation of a tragedy — and the fear of any parent — was despicable and should not be condoned.
“One can have different political views, but one should, as a decent human being, know that there are lines that should not be crossed,” Chiang said.
Should Lee refuse to apologize, the party would forward the issue to the Central Evaluation and Discipline Committee, which would begin a probe against Lee by the local party chapter, a source in the party said on condition of anonymity.
‘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