Mon, Dec 23, 2019 page3

• 2020 Elections: Tricks used to make recall march look bigger, Han says

  POINTING FINGERS: The Kaohsiung Mayor said that if elected president on Jan. 11, he would reinstate the Special Investigation Division to combat government corruption

  • By Ann Maxon / Staff reporter
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  Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) yesterday said that a march on Saturday calling for his recall was unjustified and that organizers used “tricks” to make the crowd seem bigger.

  Han, the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) presidential candidate, yesterday morning posted a picture on Facebook of the Kaohsiung march organized by civic groups, which shows demonstrators carrying a giant banner with a small number of people under it.

  “The biggest fig leaf in Taiwan’s history since its democratization,” he wrote of the picture.

  

  Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu, the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) presidential candidate, center, accompanied by KMT Legislator Chen Hsueh-sheng, right, greets supporters at the 40th anniversary meeting of the World Federation of Fuzhou Associations in Taipei yesterday.

  Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei Times

  Asked to explain the post later yesterday, Han told reporters in New Taipei City that the banner was like a “fig leaf” used by event organizers to create the illusion of having more participants than they actually did.

  Event organizers claimed that 500,000 people took part in the march, but perhaps 480,000 of them were hiding under the banner and thus could not be seen, Han said.

  “No one expected them to pull this kind of trick,” he said, adding that the organizers were better at creating illusions than magician Louis Liu (劉謙).

  He said he even saw “foreigners” at the march, even though only Kaohsiung residents could recall the mayor.

  While members of the public have the right to recall elected officials, the campaign to recall him seemed to be the result of political manipulation, Han said.

  The march was a “ridiculous performance” put on by certain groups to defame him and advance their own political interests, he said, adding: “We do not see how [the march] can be justified.”

  In response, Wecare Kaohsiung, a coalition of civic groups that co-organized the march with Citizens Mowing Action and the Taiwan Statebuilding Party, posted a video on Facebook showing large crowds of people under the banner as they carried it over their heads.

  The banner, which was 210m long and 12m wide, was designed to showcase participants’ conviction to work together for the recall campaign, as it required a group effort to carry, Wecare Kaohsiung said on Facebook.

  Han’s remarks show that he is “scared,” it said.

  In other developments, Han yesterday reiterated his plan to reinstate the Special Investigation Division (SID) if elected.

  During a morning visit to Taipei’s Guandu Temple (關渡宮) with KMT legislative candidate Wang Chih-pin (汪志冰), Han encountered a supporter holding a placard calling for the SID to be re-established to fight corruption.

  The placard speaks to the public’s shared wish for a government with integrity, Han said, adding: “There is a Bao Qingtian (包青天) inside every one of us.”

  Bao, a Song Dynasty judge, is worshiped as a symbol of justice due to his reputation for being incorruptible.

  At a later campaign event with KMT legislative candidate Hung Meng-kai (洪孟楷) in New Taipei City, Han urged President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) to explain why she abolished the SID in 2017.

  Tsai’s administration is incompetent and corrupt, he said, adding: “We must let the Democratic Progressive Party know that the Republic of China belongs to the people by voting in the elections.”
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