Award-winning author and former Taipei mayoral candidate Neil Peng (馮光遠) yesterday announced his candidacy for next year’s legislative election, saying he does not rule out the possibility of following in Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je’s (柯文哲) footsteps of joining the opposition party’s primary.
A day after the election to recall Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Alex Tsai (蔡正元) failed, Peng, who played a part in the Appendectomy Project — a movement birthed during the Sunflower movement last year to recall unfit lawmakers — declared that he would join the legislative race.
Peng is to vie for the electoral district encompassing New Taipei City’s Tamsui (淡水), Bali (八里), Linkou (林口), Shimen (石門), Sanjhih (三芝) and Taishan (泰山) districts, where he is expecting to confront incumbent KMT Legislator Wu Yu-sheng (吳育昇), whom Peng also tried to have recalled, but failed.
Photo: CNA
Film director and antinuclear power activist Ko I-chen (柯一正) voiced his support for Peng.
“It’s not that we are born rebellious, we have been forced to stand up by how the politics has turned out,” Ko said. “Many have promised to make Taiwan better, but all they have done is serve certain groups of people and strip our children of their assets.”
“When we call for fairness and justice, if it is not aimed for the reforms to the social structure, only a minority of people would be benefited,” Peng added.
Academia Sinica researcher Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌), who had a leading role in the Sunflower movement and has been pushing for a lower threshold for national referendums, was also at the press conference to show his support for Peng.
“We have observed [since the Sunflower movement] how wide the gap is between social power and the legislature, which has passed so many bills that should never have been passed. These include the amendment to the Accounting Act (會計法), which was clearly intended for the decriminalization of certain politicians. It also failed to pass progressive bills that should have been passed, such as the cross-strait agreement oversight mechanism,” Huang said.
Huang added that both the ruling and opposition parties have pledged to create legislation to prevent media monopolization, “but nothing has been drawn up.”
“What do we have at our disposal to fight against them when they betray us?” asked Huang.
New Taipei City Councilor Ho Po-wen (何博文), who was elected by the same constituency, said the area is a “difficult place” in which to defeat the ruling party, and called on young district voters to assist Peng’s campaign.
When asked whether he would be willing to cooperate with the Democratic Progressive Party by joining its primary, as Ko Wen-je did for his Taipei mayoral election, Peng responded in the affirmative, “but only if their candidates have good policies and a strong will to defend democracy.”
He also announced his withdrawal from the Taipei City Government’s Clean Government Commission “to clear up any doubts of a conflict of interest.”
GENSLER SURVEY: ‘Economic infrastructure is not enough. A city needs to inspire pride, offer moments of joy and foster a sense of belonging,’ the company said Taipei was named the city with the “highest staying power” in the world by US-based design and architecture firm Gensler. The Taiwanese capital earned the top spot among 65 cities across six continents with 64 percent of Taipei respondents in a survey of 33,000 people saying they wanted to stay in the city. Rounding out the top five were Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City (61 percent), Singapore (59 percent), Sydney (58 percent) and Berlin (51 percent). Sixth to 10th place went to Monterrey, Mexico; Munich, Germany; Sao Paulo, Brazil; Vancouver; and Seoul. Cities in the US were ranked separately, with Minneapolis first at
The Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association has cautioned Japanese travelers to be vigilant against pickpockets at several popular tourist spots in Taiwan, including Taipei’s night markets, the Yongkang Street area, Zhongshan MRT Station, and Jiufen (九份) in New Taipei City. The advisory, titled “Recent Development of Concerns,” was posted on the association’s Web site under its safety and emergency report section. It urges travelers to keep backpacks fully zipped and carried in front, with valuables placed at the bottom of the bag. Visitors are advised to be especially mindful of their belongings when taking photos or speaking on the phone, avoid storing wallets and
Scoot announced yesterday that starting in October, it would increase flights between Taipei and Japan’s Narita airport and Hokkaido, and between Singapore and Taipei. The low-cost airline, a subsidiary of Singapore Airlines, also said it would launch flights to Chiang Rai in Thailand, Okinawa and Tokyo’s Haneda airport between December and March next year. Flights between Singapore and Chiang Rai would begin on Jan. 1, with five flights per week operated by an Embraer E190-E2 aircraft, Scoot said. Flights between Singapore and Okinawa would begin on Dec. 15, with three flights per week operated by Airbus A320 aircraft, the airline said. Services between Singapore
ENDORSING TAIWAN: Honduran presidential candidate Nasry Afura said that Honduras was ‘100 times better off’ when it was allied with Taipei The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday said it would explore the possibility of restoring diplomatic relations with Honduras based on the principle of maintaining national interests and dignity. The ministry made the remarks in response to reporters’ questions regarding an article titled: “Will Taiwan Regain a Diplomatic Ally?” published in The Diplomat on Saturday. The article said Honduras’ presidential election in November could offer Taiwan the chance to regain an ally, as multiple candidates have promoted re-establishing diplomatic relations with Taiwan. Honduras severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan in March 2023 in favor of Beijing, but since switching its diplomatic recognition,
RSS