Entertainer Pai Ping-ping (白冰冰) yesterday apologized for making “indiscreet” remarks while stumping for the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential ticket in Greater Taichung on Sunday, where she said that voting a female candidate into high office could result in calamity.
“I definitely had no intention of disparaging women by making the remarks and I would like to say sorry for giving an unsound example,” Pai said in a statement.
The controversy arose when Pai, speaking at a campaign rally for President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and his running mate, Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義), said voters should cast their ballots for candidates who are experienced in ruling the country and who have “good -fortune” like Ma and Wu, rather than for Democratic Progressive Party Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), or Taiwan might suffer from a disaster like the flooding that hit Thailand not long after the country elected a female prime minister.
Thailand was hit by its most serious flooding in half a century between October and last month. Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra was elected in early July, making her the first woman prime minister in the history of the country.
Pai said she would be more prudent when making public remarks in the future.
Ma said at a press conference that Pai’s remarks were “somehow inappropriate,” but that by offering an apology, she did the right thing.
DPP Legislator Huang Shu-ying (黃淑英) yesterday called Pai’s remarks “absurd” and “over the top,” adding that they not only twisted the truth, but also discriminated against women.
Huang also said the elections were “letting ignorance cloud conscience.”
DPP Central Executive Committee member Hung Chih-kun (洪智坤) said he wondered why Ma kept a group of “dirty mouths” around him.
“The KMT is busy trying to maintain Ma’s image, but it doesn’t know that smearing and slandering by these dirty-mouthed people is only keeping the people at arms length,” Hung said.
With translation by Jake Chung
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