Yen Ming-wei (顏銘緯), the college freshman and director of the youth political group Flanc Radical who hurled a book at President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) on Friday evening, yesterday said he had that he had long waited for the opportunity and was prepared to face the consequences of his action.
“I think it is totally justified to throw Formosa Betrayed [by George Kerr] at a person who has betrayed Taiwan,” Yen told a press conference in Greater Kaohsiung yesterday. “I felt that I needed to do something, and this was it.”
The National Sun Yat-sen University student said that although the opportunity came unexpectedly, he seized it, adding that he believed other young activists would have done the same given the chance.
“Hurling a book at Ma was a gentle but firm reminder to our ruler that he should not continue to ignore the opinion of the people and move forward with his China-leaning policies. Today, it was only Yen Ming-wei who seized the opportunity to do so, but there will be thousands of others who will take the same action elsewhere,” Yen said.
He added that if the president ignores the “reminder,” he might force the public to take more radical action.
Yen rebutted criticism that throwing a book at the president was an act of violence, saying: “Compared with the violence committed by the state, what I did was nothing.”
Although Yen was released on the spot by security personnel, he said that he was prepared to pay the price for his action.
The two leading Taipei mayoral candidates — the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) Sean Lien (連勝文) and independent contender Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) — condemned Yen’s action.
“Protests are normal in a democracy, but throwing a book is just not right,” Ko said.
Lien’s office said it “severely condemned the act of violence.”
The office said in a news release that any act of violence, whatever form it takes, is not acceptable to the general public.
“In a democracy, people should express their views in a rational manner,” the office said.
Another independent Taipei mayoral candidate, Neil Peng (馮光遠), praised Yen, saying he was acting courageously.
“When an Iraqi journalist threw a shoe at former US president George W. Bush in protest, Bush responded with a joke, saying: ‘If you want the facts, it’s a size 10 shoe that he threw,’” Peng said. “I wish Ma had also responded with a joke, such as ‘Formosa betrayed? We haven’t reached a deal yet.’”
Additional reporting by Shih Hsiu-chuan
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