"Life is precious, think for two more minutes -- you don't have to kill yourself," Buddhist Master Sheng Yen (
Words of wisdom from an old master, it's a statement that local politicians should keep in mind when making rash comments, such as threatening suicide, academics said yesterday.
After coming under fire from both the pan-blue and pan-green camps for barging into Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Frank Hsieh's (
Fa quit his position as KMT caucus whip on Thursday and his membership in the KMT on Friday as an expression of apology for the potential damage he might have inflicted on Ma's election bid.
Fai is not the only politician who has offered to end his life.
One day after Fai made such a remark, KMT Vice Chairman John Kuan (
Many also remember that last October, a Central Election Commission member recommended by the People First Party, Chao Shu-chien (
Seppuku is a Japanese ritual of committing suicide by disembowelment.
The commission did proceed to have a vote on it, and Chao didn't follow through on his word, dismissing it later as a mere joke.
Shih Cheng-feng (施正鋒), dean of the College of Indigenous Studies at National Donghwa University, said yesterday that seppuku is a Japanese ritual to show that a person is ashamed of his own actions.
"It's sacred and is morally very symbolic; however, the politicians have made such vows a joke," he said.
Tseng Chien-yuan (
"Public issues should be discussed rationally in society," Tseng said. "Threatening to commit suicide is more like what terrorists or extremists would do."
While such rash words by politicians may have an impact on their supporters to a certain degree, especially during a period when tempers are running high as the election approaches, Tseng said that making such comments "would create an atmosphere of unrest in society, which is certainly negative."
Kuan Chung-hsiang (
"Politicians set bad examples by using provocative language that would only heighten the political standoff," he said. "Younger politicians or voters may learn from them, and it's not a good thing."
INCREASED CAPACITY: The flights on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays would leave Singapore in the morning and Taipei in the afternoon Singapore Airlines is adding four supplementary flights to Taipei per week until May to meet increased tourist and business travel demand, the carrier said on Friday. The addition would raise the number of weekly flights it operates to Taipei to 18, Singapore Airlines Taiwan general manager Timothy Ouyang (歐陽漢源) said. The airline has recorded a steady rise in tourist and business travel to and from Taipei, and aims to provide more flexible travel arrangements for passengers, said Ouyang, who assumed the post in July last year. From now until Saturday next week, four additional flights would depart from Singapore on Monday, Wednesday, Friday
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Taiwan successfully defended its women’s 540 kilogram title and won its first-ever men’s 640 kg title at the 2026 World Indoor Tug of War Championships in Taipei yesterday. In the women’s event, Taiwan’s eight-person squad reached the final following a round-robin preliminary round and semifinals featuring teams from Ukraine, Japan, Thailand, Vietnam, the Basque Country and South Korea. In the finals, they swept the Basque team 2-0, giving the team composed mainly of National Taiwan Normal University students and graduates its second championship in a row, and its fourth in five years. Team captain
When Paraguayan opposition lawmaker Leidy Galeano returned from an all-expenses-paid tour of six Chinese cities late last year, she was convinced Paraguay risked missing out on major economic gains by sticking with longtime ally Taipei over Beijing — a message that participants on the trip heard repeatedly from Chinese officials. “Everything I saw there, I wanted for my country,” said Galeano, a member of the newly-formed Yo Creo party whose senior figures have spoken favorably about China. This trip and others like it — which people familiar with the visits said were at the invitation of the Chinese consulate in Sao Paulo
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