Discontent in the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) with KMT Chairwoman Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) yesterday boiled to the surface, with former minister of transportation and communications Yeh Kuang-shih (葉匡時) saying that Hung wants to send “the KMT to the mortuary.”
Yeh, who was an adviser to Hung’s presidential campaign in 2015 before Hung’s forced replacement by then-KMT chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), said on Facebook that Hung allowed the KMT’s Huang Fu-hsing military veterans’ branch to sway the party’s chairperson election.
“According to party member numbers published by the KMT, out of 880,000 registered members, only about 220,000 have voting rights in the chairperson election, of which 197,000 are either older than 65 and have been party members for at least 40 years — including 170,000 Huang Fu-hsing members — or are members of low-income households,” Yeh said. “Both groups are exempt from paying party fees to have voting rights.”
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
“In other words, the KMT chairperson election will be completely decided by Huang Fu-hsing,” he added, asking why there have been “less than 30,000 members willing to pay party fees” during Hung’s tenure as chairwoman.
“Are you really taking the KMT to the mortuary?” Yeh asked Hung.
It was not the first time Yeh has taken Hung to task for what he said was the impending demise of the party.
On Dec. 22, he said on Facebook that the KMT “is being pushed from the intensive care unit to hospice care and will be sent to the mortuary in no time,” sharing an article from the Chinese-language United Daily News that said the party was “narrowing its road, with an intraparty consensus nowhere to be seen.”
The following day, he added: “Chairwoman Hung, please do not complain about other people not listening to your orders. Please think about why they fail to do so.”
KMT Central Policy Committee director Alex Tsai (蔡正元) fought back yesterday, saying on Facebook: “No wonder [former president] Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) poll numbers were in the mortuary; it was because he made someone like Yeh the minister of transportation and communications.”
“Yeh relied on the KMT to indulge on luxuries, but he did not even pay a NT$2,000 special party fee,” Tsai said, referring to a donation scheme employed by the party to raise funds.
There are only 65,967 Huang Fu-hsing members, of which 60,480 are older than 65 and have been party members for at least 40 years, he said.
“Can Yeh not read numbers? Was his IQ [intelligence quotient] sent to the mortuary?” Tsai said. “No wonder he was seriously slapped on the face when he undertook financial reforms of Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp.”
Taiwan is to have nine extended holidays next year, led by a nine-day Lunar New Year break, the Cabinet announced yesterday. The nine-day Lunar New Year holiday next year matches the length of this year’s holiday, which featured six extended holidays. The increase in extended holidays is due to the Act on the Implementation of Commemorative and Festival Holidays (紀念日及節日實施條例), which was passed early last month with support from the opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party. Under the new act, the day before Lunar New Year’s Eve is also a national holiday, and Labor Day would no longer be limited
Taiwan is to extend its visa-waiver program for Philippine passport holders for another year, starting on Aug. 1, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said on Friday. Lin made the announcement during a reception in Taipei marking the 127th anniversary of Philippine independence and the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the Manila Economic and Cultural Office (MECO) in Taiwan, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. The decision reflected Taiwan’s commitment to deepening exchanges with the Philippines, the statement cited Lin as saying, adding that it was a key partner under the New Southbound Policy launched in 2016. Lin also expressed hope
Costa Rica sent a group of intelligence officials to Taiwan for a short-term training program, the first time the Central American country has done so since the countries ended official diplomatic relations in 2007, a Costa Rican media outlet reported last week. Five officials from the Costa Rican Directorate of Intelligence and Security last month spent 23 days in Taipei undergoing a series of training sessions focused on national security, La Nacion reported on Friday, quoting unnamed sources. The Costa Rican government has not confirmed the report. The Chinese embassy in Costa Rica protested the news, saying in a statement issued the same
Temperatures in New Taipei City’s Sindian District (新店) climbed past 37°C yesterday, as the Central Weather Administration (CWA) issued heat alerts for 16 municipalities, warning the public of intense heat expected across Taiwan. The hottest location in Taiwan was in Sindian, where the mercury reached 37.5°C at about 2pm, according to CWA data. Taipei’s Shilin District (士林) recorded a temperature of 37.4°C at noon, Taitung County’s Jinfeng Township (金峰) at 12:50 pm logged a temperature of 37.4°C and Miaoli County’s Toufen Township (頭份) reached 36.7°C at 11:40am, the CWA said. The weather agency yesterday issued a yellow level information notice for Taipei, New
RSS