Despite criticism from the Presidential Office and the Executive Yuan, Hon Hai Precision Industry Co chairman Terry Gou (郭台銘) has no plans to apologize for an advertisement his supporters published on Sunday accusing the government of treating public-sector employees like “rice weevils,” he said yesterday.
The half-page ad on the front page of all major newspapers was headlined “Trust in Terry Gou and protect the nation’s military personnel, public servants and public-school teachers.”
“The Democratic Progressive Party believes retired public-sector employees are the nation’s rice weevils and repeatedly insults them,” the ad read.
Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei Times
“Rice weevils” is a common Mandarin term used to describe freeloaders.
A Gou fan group said it organized the ad, but its link to Gou — who is seeking the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) presidential nomination — is unclear.
The Presidential Office “strongly condemns the advertisement for spreading false information in a hateful language to incite opposition,” spokesman Ting Yun-kong (丁允恭) said on Sunday.
The government is grateful to public-sector employees for their contribution and for being understanding of last year’s pension reforms, he said.
A statement from the Executive Yuan on Sunday condemned the ad and demanded that Gou “immediately apologize and make clarifications.”
Asked ahead of a scheduled TV interview at Eastern Broadcasting Co whether he would apologize, Gou said: “Of course I will not apologize. Why should I? I told the truth.”
It was the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) that had called public-sector employees “rice weevils” and created conflicts between generations, he told reporters.
Asked if he is hoping to win over supporters of Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) — a potential KMT presidential candidate — by focusing on issues related to public-sector employees, since they tend to support Han, Gou said his father had been a civil servant.
“My family raised me and four other kids in a house that was just 4 ping [13.2m2] and we all know how tough life can be for military personnel, police officers and firefighters,” Gou said.
“Those things said about them are unfair and unjust. and everyone will agree,” he said.
Asked about Han’s planned rally on Taipei’s Ketagalan Boulevard on Saturday, Gou said that whether people choose to support Han or him, they would be supporting the Republic of China (ROC).
It would make him happy to see people expressing support for the ROC, whether or not they support Han, he added.
He would rather devote his energy to improving the economy than holding rallies, he said.
He would continue to visit different areas of Taiwan to learn about local economic issues, Gou added.
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