New Power Party (NPP) Legislator Hung Tzu-yung (洪慈庸) was yesterday criticized by the mother of an alleged military injustice victim, following a protest outside the NPP’s offices on Friday.
“There will be no end to this if you do not come out and explain yourself clearly,” Yu Jui-ming (尤瑞敏), the mother of Tsai Hsueh-liang (蔡學良), said in a Facebook post.
Yu — who has filed a lawsuit seeking compensation from the military over the alleged murder of her son during military service in 2008 — said Hung snubbed her invitation to participate in a rally earlier this month against “dinosaur judges.”
Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times
“We thought you, Hung, could participate. If you did not have time, you should have at least responded. Why are you telling lies and deceiving people by stating you did not know?” Yu wrote, demanding a public apology from Hung.
Following a sit-in outside the Legislative Yuan earlier last week, Yu on Friday staged a protest outside NPP offices, tossing paper money in the air and yelling for Hung to come out to accept her petition.
“Given how long it has been since you were elected, you should at least be willing to come out and meet me — you should have brought together the families of military injustice victims for a meeting long ago,” she said, showing printouts of the messages she said she sent to Hung over the Line messaging application.
“We had huge expectations for you — all of these cases are the tears and blood of mothers who cannot find the truth and see justice done,” she said.
Hu Po-yen (胡博硯), a professor of law at Soochow University who has assisted Hung’s office in drafting legislation, came out of the party office to receive Yu’s petition, saying that Hung plans to push for legislation to address military injustice in an institutional and fundamental way.
Following a previous public hearing on legislation focusing on academics, there will be further public hearings in the near future for ordinary citizens, he said, adding that Yu would be welcome to participate if she has any advice to give.
He added that he was chiefly responsible for addressing the military injustice petitions that Hung’s office has recently received, adding that the office seeks to treat all petitioners equally and help them as much as it can.
Hung rose to national prominence at the helm of a national movement against military abuse spurred by the death of her brother, army corporal Hung Chung-chiu (洪仲丘), who died of heatstroke following punishment exercises days before his scheduled discharge.
Hung could not be reached for comment, but had said earlier this week that she and her office had never received Yu’s invitation.
Meanwhile, Yu drew ridicule yesterday from netizens over a video purporting to show her repeatedly dialing Hung’s office without being able to get through. Based on the digits displayed by her phone’s screen in the video, she left out a digit of the office phone number when she dialed it.
She said on Facebook that she had previously gotten through to the office and spoke with one of Hung’s aides, but was unable to get through again later, as she forgot to enter a digit when she dialed the telephone number for her video.
Additional reporting by CNA
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