Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Hsu Shu-po (許舒博) yesterday criticized the party’s handling of internal discontent, one day after former KMT chairman Wu Poh-hsiung (吳伯雄) called for party members to “set aside discontent for the greater good” ahead of the January elections.
“It’s not just a few people who are disgruntled, it’s a whole bunch of people,” Hsu said, adding that the source of that anger was the impression among party members that the KMT was not fully committed to them.
“Without consideration and commitment [to party members], there can be no party spirit,” Hsu said.
The KMT nominee for the second electoral district in Yunlin, Hsu said he still had reservations about his nomination and did not attend the KMT party congress on Friday.
Hsu said he did not feel the party was fully committed to him, adding that that was the reason why his father, former Yunlin County commissioner Hsu Wen-chi (許文志), did not want him to take part in the election.
Hsu Shu-po said his father was loathe to see his son participate in “an election with no guarantees.”
Even though President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) telephoned Hsu Wen-chi to discuss the matter, the younger Hsu said that only if Ma visited his father during his visit to Yunlin on Sunday and secured his approval would he be able to engage fully in party affairs.
During an interview on Friday, Hsu Shu-po expressed doubts as to whether KMT campaign strategist King Pu-tsung (金溥聰) had an accurate grasp of the local sentiment in more rural areas, adding that he had never heard of King visiting rural areas.
King does not understand “southern flavor,” Hsu said, adding that despite announcing its determination to make central Taiwan the key battlefield during the election, execution of that strategy so far lacked strength and didn’t quite “scratch the itch.”
Voters in central and southern parts of the country are different from those in the north, Hsu Shu-po said, adding that the KMT needed someone who knew how to “talk to people” in the south, not just blindly replicate approaches that had proved successful in the north.
“Appoint me as the Ma campaign office’s southern spokesperson,” Hsu Shu-po said, describing himself as a candidate who knew how to “use the right people and do the right things, in the right way.”
In a special statement issued through Ma’s campaign office, King said he hoped Hsu Shu-po would take the larger picture into consideration and not resort to party infighting.
During an interview yesterday, Hsu Shu-po used the analogy of a dragon boat race to describe the organizational approach of the upcoming campaign.
Ma is the flag grabber, Premier and vice presidential candidate Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) is the drum beater, and the legislative candidates are the rowers, he said, adding that the most important position on any dragon-boat is the person holding the rudder.
The current rudder man does not know how to steer, Hsu Shu-po said, adding that since they were still four or five people short of a full boat, the rudder man should also take turns rowing the boat himself.
“I should only have to expend 30 percent of my energy during the election, but now I find I have to give everything I have, with zero guarantee of getting anything back in return, however hard I work,” Hsu Shu-po said.
TRANSLATED BY JAKE CHUNG, STAFF WRITER
NATIONAL SECURITY: Authorities are working to confirm the identities of the military personnel involved and investigating possible illegal conduct and regulatory violations Authorities are probing possible national security implications after Kinmen police and immigration officers on Sunday found a Chinese woman allegedly posing as a tourist while engaging in prostitution involving more than 10 military personnel. The woman, surnamed Chen (陳), has since been deported, authorities said, adding that investigators are still working to confirm the identities of those implicated, as the records only listed code names and aliases. The case stemmed from a report received by the Kinmen District Prosecutors’ Office on Friday last week from the Jinhu Precinct of the Kinmen County Police Bureau. On Sunday, police, along with the National Immigration
GLOBALGIVING: ‘ Caving to external pressure is not acceptable for an organization that has cultivated justice reform and human rights for 30 years,’ one NGO said A slew of non-government organizations (NGOs) have withdrawn from the GlobalGiving fundraising platform after it announced it would use “Chinese Taipei” instead of “Taiwan” from next month. The Taiwan Good Rice Association wrote on Facebook on Friday that it was informed on April 28 via a teleconference call of the change, which was made because the platform wanted to operate in China. Taiwan Good Rice is to terminate all cooperative relationships with GlobalGiving in response to the platform’s “unilateral and non-negotiable” decision to remove references to Taiwan, the NGO said. “Taiwan is in the official name of Taiwan Good Rice Association and the
HEAVY WEATHER: Typhoon Jangmi is due to crash straight into the Ryukyus as airlines look to shift flights to larger aircraft or cancel flights to Okinawa entirely Taiwan’s international air carriers announced flight adjustments over the weekend as Typhoon Jangmi is forecast to hit the Ryukyu Islands today and tomorrow. The Central Weather Administration (CWA) upgraded Jangmi from a tropical storm to a typhoon at 8am yesterday, with the eye located 580km south of Naha city. It was moving north at 19kph. Today, China Airlines’ CI-120, CI-121, CI-122 and CI-123 flights between Taoyuan and Naha, Okinawa, have been canceled as well as CI-132 and CI-133 between Kaohsiung and Naha. EVA Air’s BR-112, BR-113, BR-186 and BR-185 flights between Taoyuan and Naha are also canceled. Low-cost carrier Tigerair Taiwan canceled IT-230,
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) yesterday briefed her party’s Central Standing Committee regarding her scheduled visit to the US between Monday next week and June 16, saying that her purpose would be to persuade the US that the Republic of China (ROC) Constitution was a “one China” constitution that would foster stable and peaceful cross-strait relations. The ROC Constitution is the most important defense for all Taiwanese citizens, as it upholds our democracy and has contributed to our robust economy, which aligns with international and US interests, she said. “We would not be troublemakers and drag the US under,”
RSS