Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) yesterday urged supporters to give the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) another chance in the Jan. 11 presidential and legislative elections and vowed to reform the party if elected president.
The KMT was voted out of office in 2016 because it had lost touch with the public and had deviated from their will, the KMT presidential candidate told a rally attended by more than 1,000 township mayors and borough wardens in Kaohsiung’s Daliao District (大寮).
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is repeating mistakes the KMT made before its 2016 election defeat, and as ruling parties, both put little effort into running the nation, Han said.
Photo: CNA
Having achieved little regarding their policies, both parties therefore resorted to mudslinging and squandering money to win elections, he added.
“If elected president, I promise that I will work hard, that the KMT will undergo reforms and that we will cultivate younger generations,” he said, urging supporters to give the KMT another chance.
Han also promised to offer township mayors a fixed salary or a raise in their monthly allowance.
The current policy of paying each township mayor a monthly allowance of NT$45,000 is unreasonable, considering that the population of each township varies greatly, he said.
If elected president, he would conduct a nationwide survey among township mayors to determine how to adjust their pay, he said.
The rally was one of five campaign events Han attended in Kaohsiung yesterday. After the rally, he visited the Huangpu New Village (黃埔新村) veterans’ community in Fongshan District (鳳山), took part in skeet shooting in Daliao, and attended a Christmas celebration in Zuoying District (左營) and an event to promote local produce in Dashe District (大社).
At the shooting range, Han shot three green balloons respectively labeled “state apparatus,” “diplomatic isolation” and “1450” — a term coined by critics of the DPP to refer to what they believed to be the party’s online influence campaigns.
During an interview with reporters at the range afterward, Han accused the DPP of becoming arrogant after assuming power.
“The DPP’s remarks in the past several days show it has grown very arrogant since taking power,” he said.
Commenting on Deputy Minister of the Interior Chen Tsung-yen’s (陳宗彥) remarks on Saturday urging supporters not to vote for minor parties, Han said that members of the public could freely decide which party to vote for.
Democracy is valuable because of its diversity, he said, adding: “They think all Taiwanese have to vote for the DPP.”
In a video the DPP released on Thursday, DPP Legislator Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲) even said that many Kaohsiung residents feel bad about what they did to Taiwan, Han said.
“In a democracy, people vote to choose their president, legislators and government heads. What wrong could Kaohsiung residents have done to the nation by electing a mayor?” he asked.
“I hope all 23 million Taiwanese vote to prove that the people are truly the master of the country,” he said.
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