The war of words between the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) candidates for the soon-to-be Sinbei City heated up yesterday as the DPP reacted to colorful language used by Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) during a weekend event in support of the KMT candidate.
Addressing a campaign rally for KMT Sinbei City mayoral candidate Eric Chu (朱立倫), Wu used derogatory Taiwanese slang to describe Chu’s opponent in the race, DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), as well as DPP Taipei mayoral candidate Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌), DPP officials said.
Referring to Tsai and Su as “brokers” — a word with sexual overtones in Taiwanese — Wu said the pair were led by “pimps” during the bungling of a ill-conceived secret attempt to secure diplomatic relations with Papua New Guinea during former president Chen Shui-bian’s (陳水扁) second term in office.
PHOTO: WENG YU-HUANG, TAIPEI TIMES
Wu’s language “degraded the election process,” DPP officials said.
A spokesman for Tsai’s campaign said the premier’s remarks were “outrageous,” adding that his comments reflected directly on Chu.
Tsai campaign spokesperson Cheng Wen-tsang (鄭文燦) said Wu’s comments were “vulgar, crude” and represented a personal attack on the DPP candidates.
“It’s unthinkable that such rude words could come out of the premier’s mouth,” he said, adding that Wu had “crossed the line.”
During a campaign stop, Tsai said the remarks were another type of negative campaigning, one that the public would undoubtedly reject.
The controversy came after Tsai also held a large rally in Sinbei City, the soon-to-be-renamed Taipei County, on the last, “Super Sunday” before the special municipality elections.
In Lujhou City (蘆洲), Taipei County, Tsai told a 1,000-strong crowd on Sunday that the government focused too much on economic figures and did not empathize with the public.
In contrast, the DPP had learned over the past years how to “reflect public opinion and care for the people,” she said.
“It’s disappointing that the -government feels so good about itself. Just look at the carnival they held in Taipei City,” she said, referring to the KMT rally in Taipei on Sunday.
“They don’t feel that our society has problems and don’t understand why so many people are so unhappy,” she said.
The two election candidates are currently caught in a bitter dispute over a series of door-to-door advertisements given out by politicians connected to Tsai’s campaign, which alleged that Chu allowed large polluters to illegally pump wastewater into Taoyuan County rivers while he was commissioner there.
Chu’s campaign claims the advertisements are false and on Sunday filed a lawsuit against their authors, which include a number of candidates for DPP Sinbei City councilor.
Tsai says the ads reflect “legitimate concerns” that Chu would need to address.
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