Among the more unusual personalities celebrating legislative election victories yesterday were a TV celebrity, an award-winning movie actress, a basketball star and a convict.
Former DPP spokeswoman turned TV host, Sisy Chen (
She adopted what she described as an "alternative campaign strategy," involving no billboards or campaign rallies, but small events at which she generated publicity with performances of songs and entertainment routines in department stores and public parks.
Another media celebrity elected as an independent legislator is film star and former singer, May Chin (
Chin is best-known for her performance in The Wedding Banquet, directed by Oscar-winning Taiwanese director, Ang Lee (李安).
The PFP's Cheng Chih-long (
Among the more unsavory winners was convicted felon Yen Ching-piao (顏清標) who was elected as an independent legislator with 34,003 votes in Taichung County.
A former Taichung County Council speaker and an influential member of a local political faction in the county, Yen was convicted in August of attempted murder and corruption and denied bail by the Taiwan High Court. His campaign was conducted by his son, Yen Kuan-heng (
Yen remains in prison and his case is on appeal.
Another well-known gangland figure, Hsiao Teng-shih (
Hsiao, a former Chiayi City Farmers' Association chairman, was sentenced to three years in prison in July for illegally manipulating a Taiwan Provincial Farmers' Association election.
Also among the well-known defeated was sitting legislator Shih Ming-te (施明德) who failed to secure a legislative seat in Taipei City's southern constituency.
Shih, a former DPP chairman, had campaigned with Sisy Chen using an alternative campaign strategy, forsaking billboards and campaign rallies and often appearing with Chen at her informal performances.
Ko Szu-hai (柯賜海), who is well known for a series of high-profile and off-beat campaigns ostensibly on behalf of stray dogs, including taking groups of the strays with him to protest at government offices and bombarding the phone lines of businesses with repeating computerized telephone calls also failed to win a seat in Taipei South.
Ko, who maintains hundreds of stray dogs, has often been seen campaigning with a van full of the animals.
Actress Wang Hsiao-chan (
Wang had followed Chang throughout his campaign in order to attack him.
Two gay candidates, James Jan (詹銘洲) and Webster Chen (陳文彥), who sought to take the fight for homosexual rights into the national political arena, lost their bid for Kaohsiung City and Taipei City's northern district respectively.
The DPP's Chen Yi-hsin (陳義信), a national baseball star, was defeated in his run for an Aboriginal legislative seat.
NATIONAL SECURITY THREAT: An official said that Guan Guan’s comments had gone beyond the threshold of free speech, as she advocated for the destruction of the ROC China-born media influencer Guan Guan’s (關關) residency permit has been revoked for repeatedly posting pro-China content that threatens national security, the National Immigration Agency said yesterday. Guan Guan has said many controversial things in her videos posted to Douyin (抖音), including “the red flag will soon be painted all over Taiwan” and “Taiwan is an inseparable part of China,” while expressing hope for expedited “reunification.” The agency received multiple reports alleging that Guan Guan had advocated for armed reunification last year. After investigating, the agency last month issued a notice requiring her to appear and account for her actions. Guan Guan appeared as required,
A strong cold air mass is expected to arrive tonight, bringing a change in weather and a drop in temperature, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The coldest time would be early on Thursday morning, with temperatures in some areas dipping as low as 8°C, it said. Daytime highs yesterday were 22°C to 24°C in northern and eastern Taiwan, and about 25°C to 28°C in the central and southern regions, it said. However, nighttime lows would dip to about 15°C to 16°C in central and northern Taiwan as well as the northeast, and 17°C to 19°C elsewhere, it said. Tropical Storm Nokaen, currently
‘NATO-PLUS’: ‘Our strategic partners in the Indo-Pacific are facing increasing aggression by the Chinese Communist Party,’ US Representative Rob Wittman said The US House of Representatives on Monday released its version of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, which includes US$1.15 billion to support security cooperation with Taiwan. The omnibus act, covering US$1.2 trillion of spending, allocates US$1 billion for the Taiwan Security Cooperation Initiative, as well as US$150 million for the replacement of defense articles and reimbursement of defense services provided to Taiwan. The fund allocations were based on the US National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal 2026 that was passed by the US Congress last month and authorized up to US$1 billion to the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency in support of the
PAPERS, PLEASE: The gang exploited the high value of the passports, selling them at inflated prices to Chinese buyers, who would treat them as ‘invisibility cloaks’ The Yilan District Court has handed four members of a syndicate prison terms ranging from one year and two months to two years and two months for their involvement in a scheme to purchase Taiwanese passports and resell them abroad at a massive markup. A Chinese human smuggling syndicate purchased Taiwanese passports through local criminal networks, exploiting the passports’ visa-free travel privileges to turn a profit of more than 20 times the original price, the court said. Such criminal organizations enable people to impersonate Taiwanese when entering and exiting Taiwan and other countries, undermining social order and the credibility of the nation’s
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