Award-winning screenwriter and author Neil Peng (馮光遠) is set to officially announce his bid in the Taipei mayoral election today as an independent, further ensuring that the seven-in-one municipal elections in November are likely to be one of the most colorful campaigns in recent history.
Peng, 61, is known for political satire in his columns and blog posts, in particular against President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), as well as his one-liners, but he said his campaign would be serious, in an effort to make Taipei a better city.
“My campaign will tell people that running for public office is no longer a privilege of the rich and the powerful,” Peng said in an interview published yesterday in the Liberty Times, (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper).
Photo: Lo Pei-der, Taipei Times
Peng’s screenplay for The Wedding Banquet (喜宴), directed by Ang Lee (李安), won best original screenplay at Taiwan’s Golden Horse Awards in 1993.
He is the cofounder of the Constitution 133 Alliance, which launched a recall campaign against KMT Legislator Wu Yu-sheng (吳育昇) in New Taipei City (新北市) in August last year.
The initiative failed earlier this month due to insufficient signatures required by law to pass the second stage of the proposal.
Peng said he has been mulling entering the race since he was sued by Ma administration officials in 2012 over accusations of his involvement in an allegedly illegal bidding process for the centennial musical Dreamers (夢想家).
“As a comedian, I’m going to make the campaign process a fun one,” Peng said, adding that “I will quickly roll out my policies on Taipei’s finance, transportation, tourism, culture, housing, child care and long-term care, among others.”
Taiwanese have to participate in politics and facilitate changes rather than criticize politicians and no place would be a better starting point than the capital, Peng said.
If the past year was described as a year of the awakening of civil movement, he said, “this year should be a year of civil participation.”
Entry into the Taipei race from Peng and National Taiwan University Hospital physician Ko Wen-je (柯文哲), who is currently the frontrunner among non-KMT hopefuls, could further complicate the already complex situation for the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).
The pan-green camp has been in dispute over how to settle on a single candidate from among Ko and five DPP aspirants to give it a better opportunity of beating the eventual KMT candidate in the traditional KMT stronghold.
While the KMT has not finalized its nomination, the most likely candidate is said to be former Taipei EasyCard Co chairman Sean Lien (連勝文), son of former vice president Lien Chan (連戰).
Many pan-green supporters have called for the DPP not to nominate its own candidate and instead support Ko, despite the party’s statements that it is obligated by its regulations to nominate a candidate.
The DPP has been trying to work out a solution to address the political reality of Ko’s high popularity and its party aspirants’ insistence on nomination.
Meanwhile, former vice president Annette Lu (呂秀蓮), one of the contenders for the DPP nomination, yesterday denied a rumor that she might drop out of the race and enter the party chairman election, scheduled for May.
Taiwan has received more than US$70 million in royalties as of the end of last year from developing the F-16V jet as countries worldwide purchase or upgrade to this popular model, government and military officials said on Saturday. Taiwan funded the development of the F-16V jet and ended up the sole investor as other countries withdrew from the program. Now the F-16V is increasingly popular and countries must pay Taiwan a percentage in royalties when they purchase new F-16V aircraft or upgrade older F-16 models. The next five years are expected to be the peak for these royalties, with Taiwan potentially earning
STAY IN YOUR LANE: As the US and Israel attack Iran, the ministry has warned China not to overstep by including Taiwanese citizens in its evacuation orders The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday rebuked a statement by China’s embassy in Israel that it would evacuate Taiwanese holders of Chinese travel documents from Israel amid the latter’s escalating conflict with Iran. Tensions have risen across the Middle East in the wake of US and Israeli airstrikes on Iran beginning Saturday. China subsequently issued an evacuation notice for its citizens. In a news release, the Chinese embassy in Israel said holders of “Taiwan compatriot permits (台胞證)” issued to Taiwanese nationals by Chinese authorities for travel to China — could register for evacuation to Egypt. In Taipei, the ministry yesterday said Taiwan
Taiwan is awaiting official notification from the US regarding the status of the Agreement on Reciprocal Trade (ART) after the US Supreme Court ruled US President Donald Trump's global tariffs unconstitutional. Speaking to reporters before a legislative hearing today, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said that Taiwan's negotiation team remains focused on ensuring that the bilateral trade deal remains intact despite the legal challenge to Trump's tariff policy. "The US has pledged to notify its trade partners once the subsequent administrative and legal processes are finalized, and that certainly includes Taiwan," Cho said when asked about opposition parties’ doubts that the ART was
If China chose to invade Taiwan tomorrow, it would only have to sever three undersea fiber-optic cable clusters to cause a data blackout, Jason Hsu (許毓仁), a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator, told a US security panel yesterday. In a Taiwan contingency, cable disruption would be one of the earliest preinvasion actions and the signal that escalation had begun, he said, adding that Taiwan’s current cable repair capabilities are insufficient. The US-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC) yesterday held a hearing on US-China Competition Under the Sea, with Hsu speaking on
RSS