The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus invited the party’s four chairperson candidates to a caucus meeting yesterday, saying that the party needs intra-party democracy and an induction of younger people.
With the chairperson election on Saturday next week, the hopefuls attended the caucus meeting to seek legislators’ support, calling the legislature the only place the party could still make a difference.
The caucus asked candidates whether party officials at the local party chapters should be elected, rather than appointed, but the candidates responded with their own criticisms and demands.
Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei Times
Taipei City Councilor Lee Hsin (李新) criticized the caucus for “failing to grasp the essential point” of the question asked.
“We have been through two political tsunamis, [the local elections last year and the presidential and legislative elections this year], but no one in the party has examined why,” Lee said, adding that President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), while being lauded for his achievements, should be held accountable to some extent for the party’s downward spiral, and the fact that no younger people have been recruited and cultivated.
Lee called on the caucus to “have the guts” and launch a takeover of party headquarters, “which should now play a standby role,” and establish a committee to reform party affairs.
Former deputy legislative speaker Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) said that the party should not alter its ideals, principles or core values.
“Can the Constitution be amended? Yes, but we should also truthfully inform [the people] of the possible consequences,” she said. “Why are young people ‘naturally independence-leaning?’ There is a reason for that. There are many principles from which we cannot back downd. The party has long lost its power to argue, retreating from its stance and not daring to state its own beliefs.”
Apollo Chen (陳學聖), the only legislator of the four candidates, said that the only approach left for the KMT, which will soon be the opposition party, would be fighting in the legislature.
“The battlefield will now be in the legislature, the only place where the party can have any power over the ruling party,” he said. “In the legislature, the leader of the minority party can make immediate responses to major issues. As the Democratic Progressive Party [DPP] attempts to use transitional justice as an excuse to purge the KMT, the party chairperson, if also a legislator, could work with the caucus and form an indispensable opposition,” he said.
Acting Chairperson Huang Min-hui (黃敏惠), a former mayor of Chiayi, underlined her experience in the southern city, saying that the mayoral election was a tough fight that made history for both the KMT and Taiwan. She said that she is not against the direct election of local party officials, as long as there are sufficient supporting measures.
KMT Legislator-at-large Jason Hsu (許毓仁) suggested that the KMT “disintegrate the party and remake the party into ‘KMT 2.0’” and “discard the top-down communication style” if it wishes to attract younger members.
Legislator Chen Chao-ming (陳超明) said he has been running in elections for more than 30 years, “but I have found that the people the party mobilize [to join campaign activities] never change,” calling for a “revitalization of the local party organizations.”
Legislator-at-large John Wu (吳志揚) made the suggestion that the four candidates and the party’s legislators watch the vote-counting process together next Saturday “to demonstrate the party’s solidarity,” a suggestion all of the candidates approved.
The winner of the chairperson election has to garner more than 50 percent of the total votes cast next Saturday, if not a second round of voting would be required.
LOUD AND PROUD Taiwan might have taken a drubbing against Australia and Japan, but you might not know it from the enthusiasm and numbers of the fans Taiwan might not be expected to win the World Baseball Classic (WBC) but their fans are making their presence felt in Tokyo, with tens of thousands decked out in the team’s blue, blowing horns and singing songs. Taiwanese fans have packed out the Tokyo Dome for all three of their games so far and even threatened to drown out home team supporters when their team played Japan on Friday. They blew trumpets, chanted for their favorite players and had their own cheerleading squad who dance on a stage during the game. The team struggled to match that exuberance on the field, with
Whether Japan would help defend Taiwan in case of a cross-strait conflict would depend on the US and the extent to which Japan would be allowed to act under the US-Japan Security Treaty, former Japanese minister of defense Satoshi Morimoto said. As China has not given up on the idea of invading Taiwan by force, to what extent Japan could support US military action would hinge on Washington’s intention and its negotiation with Tokyo, Morimoto said in an interview with the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) yesterday. There has to be sufficient mutual recognition of how Japan could provide
UPDATED TEST: The new rules aim to assess drivers’ awareness of risky behaviors and how they respond under certain circumstances, the Highway Bureau said Driver’s license applicants who fail to yield to pedestrians at intersections or to check blind spots, or omit pointing-and-calling procedures would fail the driving test, the Highway Bureau said yesterday. The change is set to be implemented at the end of the month, and is part of the bureau’s reform of the driving portion of the test, which has been criticized for failing to assess whether drivers can operate vehicles safely. Sedan drivers would be tested regarding yielding to pedestrians and turning their heads to check blind spots, while drivers of large vehicles would be tested on their familiarity with pointing-and-calling
A Taiwanese man apologized on Friday after saying in a social media post that he worked with Australia to provide scouting reports on Taiwan’s team, enabling Australia’s victory in this year’s World Baseball Classic (WBC), saying it was a joke and that he did not hold any position with foreign teams or Taiwan’s sports training center. Chen Po-hao (陳柏豪) drew the rage of many Taiwan baseball fans when he posted online on Thursday night, claiming credit for Australia’s 3-0 win over Taiwan in the opening game for Pool C, saying he worked as a physical therapist with the national team and
RSS