Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Taipei City Councilor Wang Shih-cheng (王世堅) leapt from a 30m high platform in Japan earlier this month as he carried out his promise to bungee jump after losing a bet over who would win the Jan. 14 presidential election.
During an interview with a local radio talk show last year, Wang said he would do a bungee jump if then-DPP chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) lost the Jan. 14 presidential election to President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九).
On March 6, Wang performed the bungee jump on the platform at a farm in Chiba County, Japan, and posted the video clip on his Facebook page on Monday to prove he kept his promise.
Photo: Liu Jung, Taipei Times, from on-line video
“I am a politician who keeps my promises, and I want to set an example for other politicians that we are responsible for what we say,” he said.
Wang said he had planned to carry out his promise by leaping from a bridge in New Taipei City (新北市), but the city government turned down his application due to public security concerns, and he later decided to do the jump in Japan.
In the video clip, Wang shouted: “A promise is a promise,” before leaping from the platform in heavy rain.
“It was so cold that day, and I felt dizzy during the fall … Just like me, the DPP also experienced a terrible fall to the ground, but we will eventually bounce back,” he said.
The bungee jump was not the first promise Wang carried out after a bet. In 2008, as a DPP legislator, Wang dared he would jump into the sea at Chienshuiwan (淺水灣) if all eight of the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) legislative candidates were elected in Taipei constituencies.
Riding a jet ski about 100m offshore, Wang plunged into the waters, although he was ridiculed by some netizens who said that it looked as if he fell into the water rather than jumped.
Wang on Monday said he would continue to make similar bets that the DPP would obtain election victories.
STAY AWAY: An official said people should avoid disturbing snakes, as most do not actively attack humans, but would react defensively if threatened Taitung County authorities yesterday urged the public to stay vigilant and avoid disturbing snakes in the wild, following five reported snakebite cases in the county so far this year. Taitung County Fire Department secretary Lin Chien-cheng (林建誠) said two of the cases were in Donghe Township (東河) and involved the Taiwan habus, one person was bit by a Chinese pit viper near the South Link Railway and the remaining two were caused by unidentified snakes. He advised residents near fields to be cautious of snakes hiding in shady indoor areas, especially when entering or leaving their homes at night. In case of a
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck off the coast of Hualien County in eastern Taiwan at 7pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The epicenter of the temblor was at sea, about 69.9km south of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 30.9km, it said. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The earthquake’s intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was highest in Taitung County’s Changbin Township (長濱), where it measured 5 on Taiwan’s seven-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 4 in Hualien, Nantou, Chiayi, Yunlin, Changhua and Miaoli counties, as well as
Credit departments of farmers’ and fishers’ associations blocked a total of more than NT$180 million (US$6.01 million) from being lost to scams last year, National Police Agency (NPA) data showed. The Agricultural Finance Agency (AFA) said last week that staff of farmers’ and fishers’ associations’ credit departments are required to implement fraud prevention measures when they serve clients at the counter. They would ask clients about personal financial management activities whenever they suspect there might be a fraud situation, and would immediately report the incident to local authorities, which would send police officers to the site to help, it said. NPA data showed
ENERGY RESILIENCE: Although Alaska is open for investments, Taiwan is sourcing its gas from the Middle East, and the sea routes carry risks, Ho Cheng-hui said US government officials’ high-profile reception of a Taiwanese representative at the Alaska Sustainable Energy Conference indicated the emergence of an Indo-Pacific energy resilience alliance, an academic said. Presidential Office Secretary-General Pan Men-an (潘孟安) attended the conference in Alaska on Thursday last week at the invitation of the US government. Pan visited oil and gas facilities with senior US officials, including US Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, US Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy and US Senator Daniel Sullivan. Pan attending the conference on behalf of President William Lai (賴清德) shows a significant elevation in diplomatic representation,
RSS