A newly formed civic group yesterday accused independent Taipei mayoral candidate Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) of espousing sexual and occupational discrimination in two books he authored, prompting netizens to counter that the group was connected to the China Unification Promotion Party (CUPP) infamously led by Chang An-le (張安樂), a former Bamboo Union gangster also known as the “White Wolf.”
Huang Tzu-jung (黃子榕), founder of the new group, the Candidate Inspection Alliance (候選人檢視聯盟), told the Taipei Times that she has participated in CUPP events, but added that none of the alliance’s other founders are party members.
Netizens accused several of the alliance’s members of being associated with Chang’s organization, citing information on their Facebook profiles.
Photo: Yao Chieh-hsiu, Taipei Times
“I think it’s normal for political organizations to exchange ideas,” Huang said, adding that the group would soon also conduct an inspection of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Taipei mayoral candidate Sean Lien (連勝文) to see if he has made any discriminatory remarks.
At a press conference yesterday, Huang quoted several passages from two books written by Ko, labeling the remarks as sexist and derogatory to a range of different occupations.
The remarks Huang cited have drawn criticism from other quarters over the past month and included a passage from one of Ko’s books that characterized the increase of female practitioners as a sign of an occupation’s demise, as well as his referring to gynecologists as people “making a living between the thighs of women.”
Huang also accused the physician of looking down on non-medical professions, quoting another passage from one of his books ranking medical students in Taiwan as first-rate, while those in other fields, such as engineering, business, law, agriculture and the humanities, were ranked below in descending order.
Huang said Ko’s derogatory attitude toward these professions made him unfit to perform the duties of a mayor. She declined to reveal her own occupation, citing privacy reasons.
Chang Jing-li (張錦麗), a professor of applied psychology at Taiwan Police College, accused the independent candidate of being both sexist and elitist.
“I think it’s clear that Ko is devoid of human compassion,” Chang said, while questioning Ko’s ability to allocate municipal resources to citizens in need.
Wang Sheng-teng (王勝騰), a law student at Kainan University who starred in a skit performed at the press conference, also said he disagreed with Ko’s ranking of occupations.
“It makes me really uncomfortable to hear him rank my own major with such low esteem, so I’m standing up for myself and others” Wang said.
Netizens responded that the passage Huang quoted was originally meant as a critique on prevalent values present in Taiwanese society and urged more students to pursue political science, economics and art.
Huang demanded that Ko give an explanation for the remarks within three days and announced inspections of other candidates for the nine-in-one elections on Nov. 29 across the political spectrum in the near future.
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