Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Taipei mayoral candidate Sean Lien (連勝文) will make a personal donation to Greater Kaohsiung police and firefighters, his campaign spokesperson said yesterday, denying Lien’s previous donation offer in the aftermath of the gas explosion was NT$100,000 (US$3,321).
The amount to be donated has not been decided yet because the KMT’s Kaohsiung office is still getting information about casualties suffered by the police and firefighting departments, Lien’s spokesperson Chien Chen-yu (錢震宇) said.
On Friday afternoon, Lien’s campaign office announced in a press release that he would cancel his scheduled campaign activities for three days and donate NT$100,000 saved by not campaigning.
The announcement quickly drew derision and criticism from netizens, with some saying Lien’s offer was an insult to Kaohsiung because China received a donation of NT$10 million from his father Lien Chan (連戰) after an earthquake hit Sichuan Province in 2008.
Chien posted on Facebook late on Friday night saying that news coverage headlined “Sean Lien donated NT$100,000” by some media outlets was a “deliberate distortion,” saying the donation “was made by campaign office commissioner Chen Chiung-sung (陳炯松) in the office’s name.”
Democratic Progressive Party Taipei City Councilor Liang Wen-jie (梁文傑) yesterday lashed out at Sean Lien.
“A big donation or a small one is fine if it is donated out of love. But it’s ridiculous that [Sean Lien] took the opportunity to tell people that he only spends about NT$30,000 a day campaigning,” Liang said.
Sean Lien’s campaign funds hereafter should be restricted to NT$4 million if he spends NT$30,000 a day because the Nov. 29 election is 120 days away, Liang said.
“It’s impossible that Sean Lien could spend only NT$4 million before the campaign ends. It would be less than the funds almost every city council candidate would spend from now on,” Liang said.
Given the assets the Lien family has, “NT$100,000 was too small a donation,” KMT City Councilor Chin Hui-chu (秦慧珠) said when asked to comment on the matter.
In response to media queries for a comment on the matter, independent Taipei mayoral candidate Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) said yesterday that “love cannot be measured in terms of money.”
Everyone should offer what he or she can to help the people affected, Ko said.
“It’s not that people who do not donate or make a small donation do not care about the people who have been killed,” he said.
Ko said he has donated an amount equal to his monthly salary to the Greater Kaohsiung Government for post-disaster relief, and so did his wife, who is a physician like Ko, making a total of NT$400,000 between them.
Additional reporting by Tsai Ya-hua
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