In May 2019, then-New Power Party Kaohsiung City Councilor Huang Jie (黃捷) was filmed rolling her eyes in exasperation after attempting to get then-Kaohsiung mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) to discuss policy details.
Images of the few seconds of footage were replayed and reprinted ad infinitum in the days and weeks after, and Huang was praised and lambasted in equal measure for her spontaneous reaction. While Huang had been a fierce critic of Han, she was certainly not alone, and her criticisms of him were well-founded.
However, the notoriety she earned from those few seconds transformed her into a meme encapsulating the frustration that many felt toward Han. It also made her the target of one of several “retribution recall” motions in the immediate aftermath of Han’s recall.
A referendum to recall Huang, now an independent councilor for Fongshan District (鳳山), has been approved by the Central Election Commission and is scheduled for Feb. 6.
On Tuesday, footage of the rolling eyes incident was once more aired on television news programs discussing Huang’s appearance at a Fongshan District meeting, at which the group spearheading the recall drive against her, led by spokesman Hsu Shang-hsien (徐尚賢), wanted her to participate in a debate. She refused, citing the irregularity of the request, and tense scenes followed as she was escorted by security personnel out of the building.
The group’s complaints about Huang are as follows:
First, it believes that she does not take her responsibilities seriously, and that the “rolling eyes” incident was pure theater. Second, it says that Huang distorted facts when questioning Han, was informed by ideology, failed to demonstrate adequate deference when asking questions in the Kaohsiung City Council chamber and has since run afoul of China’s National Security Law in her support of the pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong.
Should we forget for a moment the scenes of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators flinging pig offal at Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) in the Legislative Yuan during his policy report on Nov. 27 last year, as Hsu and his retinue complain about elected officials not comporting themselves with due deference?
Forget, too, that it is difficult for a politician to present facts in a way a rival would not accuse them of distorting them, or that it is impossible to question an elected official, entirely uninformed by ideology.
Forget how completely inappropriate it is for the group to accuse a Taiwanese councilor of contravening a foreign law, one written by the government of China, or that the accusation itself is informed by an ideological standpoint.
Those points aside, people are left only with a few seconds of “rolling eyes,” played repeatedly on TV screens and in the minds of people like Hsu who still cannot get over the fact that Han was recalled for his poor job performance and for a level of hubris that more than 900,000 voters found unacceptable.
Recall is an important democratic mechanism, and several legislators and councilors across parties called a news conference on Tuesday to voice support for Huang, praising her job performance as exemplary and urging voters to reject the recall.
Still, there is a nagging feeling of something having gone wrong, as this recall was born of a need for retribution.
In a substantial constituency such as a municipality, the threshold for holding a recall is sufficiently difficult to achieve. The same is not true for a single district. Without provision in the law for ensuring the initial proposal is with merit, relatively small numbers of signatures can set the ball rolling.
What message does this send to elected representatives lacking the resources of major parties who wish to speak truth to power?
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