Former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) spokesman Yang Wei-chung (楊偉中) yesterday said his expulsion from the party underscores the absurdity of its system and the unattainability of the party’s pledges to become diverse and tolerant.
Yang made the remarks during an interview yesterday with Chen I-chi (陳奕齊), chairman of pro-independence group Flanc Radical, in the US, where Yang is planing to attend summer camps held by the Taiwanese Association in the US, before returning to Taiwan on Monday next week.
Yang, who was an active participant in social movements, said the KMT started going downhill in about 2011, after the 2010 mayoral elections for the then-five special municipalities.
“At the time, the KMT wanted to broaden its horizons. I remember the word it used was ‘rainbow.’ The party asked me if I was willing to work for it, but my hiring was blocked by a ‘force,’ which was why I joined Radio Taiwan International instead,” Yang said.
Yang said he changed the KMT, because he and his wife, Chen Yi-chen (陳以真), joined the party based on opportunism and compromises.
Chen said both he and his wife, who ran for mayor of Chiayi City on behalf of the KMT in the 2014 nine-in-one local elections, aspired to maintain their own opinions and did not want to be “an aide who carries a politician’s bag.”
“You will not be able to create opportunities for yourself if your political career only involves being at the beck and call of political heavyweights,” Yang said.
Regarding his removal from the party, Yang said that he does not have any particular feelings about the disciplinary action, which was meted out by the KMT Central Standing Committee on Tuesday last week due to his frequent criticism of the party.
Yang, whose party membership was registered under the KMT’s Chiayi branch, resigned as party spokesman on Jan. 16 after the party lost the presidential and legislative elections.
Yang said the KMT recruited him to diversify the party and that was exactly what he had been doing and why he did not leave.
“That was why I did not leave of my own volition. My expulsion only shows that the KMT has broken its promise to become diverse and tolerant and exposes the absurdity of its current system,” Yang said.
Taiwanese society has faced much turbulence since the KMT’s defeat in the January elections, which was why he, as a member of the party’s opposition, proposed ideas on how the party could reform its stances on issues such as localization and democratization, Yang said.
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