Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) on his last day in office yesterday emphasized that he would not accept any position or participate in any organization after leaving office.
Speaking at a farewell concert organized by the city government, Han bowed to his aides and supporters, and thanked them for their full support during his time in office.
According to the Civil Servants Election and Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法), Han and the members of the municipal government team must vacate their positions within seven days of the recall election, which took place on Saturday last week.
Photo: Ko Yu-hao, Taipei Times
More than 97 percent of the ballots were cast in favor of recalling Han.
Over the past 18 months, Han said that his team members outperformed past city administrations, but polls always showed that he was trailing — so he blamed no one but himself.
These people have been the most hardworking public servants, even though they received the least public support, he added.
Photo: Lee Hui-chou, Taipei Times
Police estimated that more than 18,000 people attended the farewell concert on a grassy area next to the Fengshan Administration Center, and many cheered for Han through tears as he told them goodbye.
Han also led his team and supporters in expressing condolences for the death of Kaohsiung City Council Speaker Hsu Kun-yuan (許崑源), a Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) member.
Hsu was found dead after falling from his 17th-floor apartment several hours after Han’s recall election.
Hsu’s death struck him with overwhelming sadness, Han said, but what made his heart break even more were untrue remarks online about Hsu’s death.
He was apparently referring to what Democratic Progressive Party Taipei City Councilor Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) wrote on Facebook, which linked Hsu’s death to underground betting.
Liang quickly deleted the post afterward and apologized more than once for making “baseless accusations.”
In other news, Han’s supporters are quarreling among themselves over tomorrow’s planned rally in Taipei, after allegations that groups supporting unification with China organized the event as “united front” work for Beijing.
A well-known figure among Han’s supporters, Kaohsiung vendor Wu Yu-chuan (吳育全), yesterday said that he would not attend the rally, and urged his friends not to go.
Many in Han’s camp had backed holding a rally, but over the past few days, the organizers’ motives and political agenda have been called into question.
“The rally’s organizers have a different political agenda,” Wu said, after media reports alleged that tomorrow’s event has been backed by pro-unification groups, possibly with financial support from China.
The rally was not organized by Han’s supporters, Wu said, adding that Han has distanced himself from it, so it would be an issue for him to participate.
The media quoted the online political forum TaiwanHandout as saying that the main rally organizers are three self-described heads of small political groups: Huang Cheng-chung (黃正忠) of the Median Voters Party, Chou Ke-chi (周克琦) of the Third Force 333 Party and Chang Tsai-ming (張采明) of the Economy Party.
Observers have said that the three organizations, which are registered as political parties to nominate their own candidates in elections, have as their charters unifying with China and pushing back against the Taiwan independence movement.
Huang, a retired army officer and long-time KMT member, was a hardcore supporter of Han’s mayoral and presidential campaigns over the past two years.
“I ask Han Kuo-yu to come out with courage — Han must not abandon his supporters,” Huang said yesterday, adding that in quitting and running away, Han and Wu have “no guts.”
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