Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) on Friday urged supporters not to vote in the June 6 referendum to recall him, saying that “democracy means respecting diversity and embracing freedom.”
“I hope people will not get too worked up or antagonistic,” he said in a video posted on Facebook, adding that his supporters should “not engage in any political activities” on the day of the vote and those outside of Kaohsiung should not travel to the city.
He said that everyone, while observing disease prevention measures, should instead “go out for a stroll, spend money and, as much as possible, not allow their lives and their businesses to be affected by politics.”
Photo: Huang Chia-lin, Taipei Times
In response to the video, Wecare Kaohsiung founder Aaron Yin (尹立) said that the message was a trick, and that if Han is recalled he would say that it was because his supporters did not vote.
Yin said that Han had also previously lied about property transactions, which he later said were common knowledge.
Han is “two-faced like Chinese Nationalist Party [KMT] Chairman Johnny Chiang (江啟臣),” Yin said.
Attorney Yeh Ching-yuan (葉慶元) had filed for an injunction against the recall on the same day that Chiang visited Kaohsiung, Yin said.
Han has acted in ways that were an abuse of power, and has torn down signs advertising the recall, Yin added.
Wecare organizer Chen Kuan-jung (陳冠榮), the lead petitioner of the campaign to recall Han, said that the mayor has claimed to be focused on municipal duties, when he has actually been working toward stopping the recall.
“Han said the recall was no big deal, but to him it clearly is a big deal. It is like when he said he would not abandon the city and go run in the presidential election, which is exactly what he did,” Chen said, adding that Han has refused to hold a city council meeting on the recall.
“Today, the nation’s junior-high school students are taking their university entrance exams. You would think Han would instead use yesterday’s video as an opportunity to offer words of encouragement,” Democratic Progressive Party Kaohsiung City Councilor Chien Huan-tsung (簡煥宗) said.
A topic covered in the social studies portion of the exams concerns elections and recalls, so it would have been fitting for Han to address it with students, Chien added.
Meanwhile, former KMT chairwoman Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) — who had previously called on Han’s supporters to vote in opposition to the recall — yesterday said that supporters should respect Han’s wishes, and encouraged them to go out and spend money to support Kaohsiung businesses.
Chiang on Friday also shared Han’s video on Facebook.
A drunk woman was sexually assaulted inside a crowded concourse of Taipei Railway Station on Thursday last week before a foreign tourist notified police, leading to calls for better education on bystander intervention and review of security infrastructure. The man, surnamed Chiu (邱), was taken into custody on charges of sexual assault, taking advantage of the woman’s condition and public indecency. Police discovered that Chiu was a fugitive with prior convictions for vehicle theft. He has been taken into custody and is to complete his unserved six-month sentence, police said. On Thursday last week, Chiu was seen wearing a white
The Taoyuan Flight Attendants’ Union yesterday vowed to protest at the EVA Air Marathon on Sunday next week should EVA Airway Corp’s management continue to ignore the union’s petition to change rules on employees’ leave of absence system, after a flight attendant reportedly died after working on a long-haul flight while ill. The case has generated public discussion over whether taking personal or sick leave should affect a worker’s performance review. Several union members yesterday protested at the Legislative Yuan, holding white flowers and placards, while shouting: “Life is priceless; requesting leave is not a crime.” “The union is scheduled to meet with
‘UNITED FRONT’ RHETORIC: China’s TAO also plans to hold weekly, instead of biweekly, news conferences because it wants to control the cross-strait discourse, an expert said China’s plan to expand its single-entry visa-on-arrival service to Taiwanese would be of limited interest to Taiwanese and is a feeble attempt by Chinese administrators to demonstrate that they are doing something, the Mainland Affairs Council said yesterday. China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) spokesman Chen Binhua (陳斌華) said the program aims to facilitate travel to China for Taiwanese compatriots, regardless of whether they are arriving via direct flights or are entering mainland China through Hong Kong, Macau or other countries, and they would be able to apply for a single-entry visa-on-arrival at all eligible entry points in China. The policy aims
The government yesterday donated US$200,000 to the Philippines to support post-earthquake relief and recovery efforts, following a powerful magnitude 6.9 quake that struck Cebu Province late last month, killing at least 72 people and injuring 559 others. The donation was presented earlier yesterday by Representative to the Philippines Wallace Chow (周民淦) to Cherbett Maralit, deputy resident representative of the Manila Economic and Cultural Office, at Taiwan’s representative office in Manila. In his remarks, Chow expressed concern for those affected by the magnitude 6.9 earthquake that struck the central Philippines on the night of Sept. 30. "We sincerely hope for the earliest possible
RSS