POLITICS
Ma fined for Facebook post
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) regrets the illegal campaign activity on his Facebook page during the presidential campaign and will pay a fine in accordance with the law, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) said yesterday. The Central Election Commission (CEC) on Tuesday fined Ma NT$500,000 (US$16,800) for violating the Presidential and Vice Presidential Election and Recall Act (總統副總統選舉罷免法) by soliciting votes on his campaign headquarters’ Facebook page on Jan. 14, the day of the election. The Facebook page, titled Taiwan Bravo, posted the contents of Ma’s speech made at a campaign rally on the eve of the election, in which he called for voter support on election day. KMT spokesperson Lai Su-ju (賴素如) yesterday said Taiwan Bravo staff posted the article on the Facebook page following the speech without knowing that the move violated the law, as the content was posted after midnight.
DIPLOMACY
Former AIT diplomat dies
Darrell Jenks, chief of the American Institute in Taiwan’s Kaohsiung Branch Office from 1996 to 1999, passed away on Tuesday in Baltimore, Maryland, the AIT said in a statement yesterday. The AIT invited friends of Jenks who would like to pay their condolences to stop by the office from yesterday to May 31. The office has prepared a condolence book for people to sign and leave messages that will be forwarded to his family after May 31. During his tenure in Kaohsiung, Jenks was active in Taiwanese language studies and jazz performance, the AIT said. Jenks was admired for his outgoing personality and exceptional linguistic abilities. He spoke eight languages in addition to English, including Japanese, Korean, Chinese and Taiwanese, the AIT said.
AVIATION
FAT plane leaves runway
A Far Eastern Air Transport (FAT) plane appeared to overrun the runway when it landed at Magong airport yesterday morning. No injuries were reported. The Aviation Safety Council has begun an investigation into the incident, which delayed eight other flights. The Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) said the FAT plane departed from Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) at 9:45am and landed at Magong airport in Penghu County at 10:45am. The pilot apparently failed to brake in time to come to a stop at the end of the runway and the aircraft’s tires crushed lighting off the temporary runway. In a statement, FAT said the aircraft did not overrun the runway and simply exceeded a stop line on the runway. The company said the incident could have been caused by strong winds and rain.
SOCIETY
Kaohsiung gets i-pass
The Kaohsiung MRT system is to launch its first custom-made i-pass card in an effort to boost the system’s low ridership, Kaohsiung Rapid Transit Corp (KRTC) said yesterday. The stored-value cards, designed for residents living along MRT lines, can be used as security access control cards for their homes, and can also be used on city buses, the MRT and ferries, the KRTC said. Cardholders can also use them for purchases at some stores and for taking buses in Taipei, Greater Taichung, Greater Tainan and Pingtung County. KRTC general manager Hau Chien-sheng (郝建生) expressed hope that cooperating with a local real-estate development company would increase ridership. The average passenger count per day last month was 145,353.
South Korean K-pop girl group Blackpink are to make Kaohsiung the first stop on their Asia tour when they perform at Kaohsiung National Stadium on Oct. 18 and 19, the event organizer said yesterday. The upcoming performances will also make Blackpink the first girl group ever to perform twice at the stadium. It will be the group’s third visit to Taiwan to stage a concert. The last time Blackpink held a concert in the city was in March 2023. Their first concert in Taiwan was on March 3, 2019, at NTSU Arena (Linkou Arena). The group’s 2022-2023 “Born Pink” tour set a
CPBL players, cheerleaders and officials pose at a news conference in Taipei yesterday announcing the upcoming All-Star Game. This year’s CPBL All-Star Weekend is to be held at the Taipei Dome on July 19 and 20.
The Taiwan High Court yesterday upheld a lower court’s decision that ruled in favor of former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) regarding the legitimacy of her doctoral degree. The issue surrounding Tsai’s academic credentials was raised by former political talk show host Dennis Peng (彭文正) in a Facebook post in June 2019, when Tsai was seeking re-election. Peng has repeatedly accused Tsai of never completing her doctoral dissertation to get a doctoral degree in law from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) in 1984. He subsequently filed a declaratory action charging that
The Hualien Branch of the High Court today sentenced the main suspect in the 2021 fatal derailment of the Taroko Express to 12 years and six months in jail in the second trial of the suspect for his role in Taiwan’s deadliest train crash. Lee Yi-hsiang (李義祥), the driver of a crane truck that fell onto the tracks and which the the Taiwan Railways Administration's (TRA) train crashed into in an accident that killed 49 people and injured 200, was sentenced to seven years and 10 months in the first trial by the Hualien District Court in 2022. Hoa Van Hao, a
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