Political commentator and psychiatrist Billy Pan (潘建志) yesterday apologized to members of a medical station set up in the main chamber of the Legislative Yuan during the Sunflower movement, after accusing the volunteers of “unethically withdrawing” before the occupation of the chamber ended.
“I would like to express my deep apologies for making volunteers at the medical station uncomfortable with my recent post,” Pan said on Facebook yesterday.
“I would like to pay my respects to members of the medical team for their great contributions during the Sunflower movement, and their participation in the event that changed the fate of the nation,” he wrote.
“My Facebook post only represents my personal views and feelings. I may have remembered things wrong and I plead your forgiveness for the mistakes, and I apologize for the troubles that I have caused you,” he added.
Pan, who recently announced he would run for a seat in the legislature in next year’s elections, has been criticized for a post on Friday in which he said the medical team removed all their equipment and personnel before the actual end of the occupation.
The volunteers had been “unethical” he wrote, adding that if military doctors tried to run away early, “they would be shot dead right there.”
Medical professionals who had volunteered to work at the medical station and people who participated in the sit-in in the chamber had been quick to criticize his remarks.
Huang Chun-wei (黃峻偉), a doctor from Chang Gung Memorial Hospital in Chiayi who had been a medical volunteer, said the medical team stayed in the legislative chamber until April 10, when all the protesters walked out of the chamber.
Although Pan was in and out of the chamber several times during the occupation, he had been on his own, and was never a member of the medical team as he claimed, Huang said.
Pan has also gotten into hot water with Chen Fei-chuan (陳斐娟), the host of a political talk show, for saying that the show was pressured to stop discussing the Buddhist Compassion Relief Tzu Chi Foundation’s plans to develop a plot of land in Taipei’s Neihu District (內湖), and the foundation’s overseas investments.
Chen said that the issues had been discussed on the show for several days in a row, so a decision was made to talk about other issues as there had been no new developments in the Tzu Chi case.
While Pan has publicly maintained he said nothing wrong, Chen said he apologized to her in a private conversation.
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it
Taiwan's Gold Apollo Co (金阿波羅通信) said today that the pagers used in detonations in Lebanon the day before were not made by it, but by a company called BAC which has a license to use its brand. At least nine people were killed and nearly 3,000 wounded when pagers used by Hezbollah members detonated simultaneously across Lebanon yesterday. Images of destroyed pagers analyzed by Reuters showed a format and stickers on the back that were consistent with pagers made by Gold Apollo. A senior Lebanese security source told Reuters that Hezbollah had ordered 5,000 pagers from Taiwan-based Gold Apollo. "The product was not
COLD FACTS: ‘Snow skin’ mooncakes, made with a glutinous rice skin and kept at a low temperature, have relatively few calories compared with other mooncakes Traditional mooncakes are a typical treat for many Taiwanese in the lead-up to the Mid-Autumn Festival, but a Taipei-based dietitian has urged people not to eat more than one per day and not to have them every day due to their high fat and calorie content. As mooncakes contain a lot of oil and sugar, they can have negative health effects on older people and those with diabetes, said Lai Yu-han (賴俞含), a dietitian at Taipei Hospital of the Ministry of Health and Welfare. “The maximum you can have is one mooncake a day, and do not eat them every day,” Lai