Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lo Chih-cheng (羅致政) yesterday admitted to leaking a private text conversation between DPP lawmakers about draft legislation on same-sex marriage, with party members downplaying the incident and describing the leak as a well-intentioned blunder.
Taipei City Councilor Chung Hsiao-ping (鍾小平) on Monday released a set of screen grabs from a private group chat by the DPP legislative caucus on the messaging application, Line, revealing DPP legislators discussions about the possible repercussions of the legislation.
DPP legislators Tuan Yi-kang (段宜康), Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲) and Julian Kuo (郭正亮) had been debating the effect of the same-sex marriage legislation on the party’s electoral performance, with Chung criticizing the DPP for seeking political gain by pushing the legislation.
Tuan, who withdrew from the group chat immediately after the conversation was exposed, was criticized for currying favor with young voters with the legislation after Chung wrote that the DPP’s approval ratings among young voters would be “moved to the intensive care unit” in less than six months and the party would lose the support of the younger generation to the New Power Party if it does not handle the same-sex marriage issue properly.
Lo yesterday admitted to leaking the private conversation to a friend, a priest who has questioned the DPP’s stance on same-sex marriage.
In an apology sent to the DPP caucus chat group, Lo said he sent the screen shots of the conversation to the friend in a bid to communicate with him about DPP policy, but that the screen shots later went viral.
He apologized for the leak and its consequences, and quit the chat group to rebuild trust among caucus members.
DPP caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) said Lo’s attempt to get the party’s policy across was out of good intentions and his apology was sincere, so Lo had earned the forgiveness of all of the DPP’s legislators.
Saying that she forgave Lo immediately after he owned up to the leak, Kuan added that caucus members trust each other.
“The event was caused by negligence and there is no factor that could ruin the trust between us,” Kuan said.
The incident was a “blessing in disguise,” as Internet users had supported the party for its in-depth discussion of social issues, she said.
DPP Legislator Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤) said the incident showed that the party is democratic and progressive, as caucus members engaged in a rational debate about a key issue to come up with a viable solution.
“The DPP does not excuse itself from the controversial issue of marriage equality, but instead takes the initiative to lead the legislation,” she said.
Chung and former Presidential Office deputy secretary-general Lo Chih-chiang (羅智強), who also accused Tuan of manipulating the same-sex marriage issue, are seeking political gain by voicing criticism of the DPP over the incident, as both are competing for the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) nomination for the Taipei mayoral election next year, Wu said.
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
Taiwan’s Liu Ming-i, right, who also goes by the name Ray Liu, poses with a Chinese Taipei flag after winning the gold medal in the men’s physique 170cm competition at the International Fitness and Bodybuilding Federation Asian Championship in Ajman, United Arab Emirates, yesterday.
A year-long renovation of Taipei’s Bangka Park (艋舺公園) began yesterday, as city workers fenced off the site and cleared out belongings left by homeless residents who had been living there. Despite protests from displaced residents, a city official defended the government’s relocation efforts, saying transitional housing has been offered. The renovation of the park in Taipei’s Wanhua District (萬華), near Longshan Temple (龍山寺), began at 9am yesterday, as about 20 homeless people packed their belongings and left after being asked to move by city personnel. Among them was a 90-year-old woman surnamed Wang (王), who last week said that she had no plans
TO BE APPEALED: The environment ministry said coal reduction goals had to be reached within two months, which was against the principle of legitimate expectation The Taipei High Administrative Court on Thursday ruled in favor of the Taichung Environmental Protection Bureau in its administrative litigation against the Ministry of Environment for the rescission of a NT$18 million fine (US$609,570) imposed by the bureau on the Taichung Power Plant in 2019 for alleged excess coal power generation. The bureau in November 2019 revised what it said was a “slip of the pen” in the text of the operating permit granted to the plant — which is run by Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) — in October 2017. The permit originally read: “reduce coal use by 40 percent from Jan.
RSS