Former Academia Sinica president Lee Yuan-tseh (李遠哲) and other former officials yesterday expressed their support for New Power Party (NPP) Executive Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌), urging people in his constituency to vote against the lawmaker’s recall tomorrow.
Although his views on many issues might not reflect traditional beliefs, Huang is a legislator with ideals and one who protects the interests of the public, Lee said at a news conference held by the NPP.
Some people blame Huang for supporting same-sex marriage, but the overwhelming majority of people would remain attracted to the opposite sex and this would not be affected by the minority who are not, Lee said.
Photo: Lin Hsin-han, Taipei Times
There are exceptions to the majority’s natural behavior and people should be tolerant of minorities, Lee added.
The Legislative Yuan is a place where controversies in society are fought out, former national policy adviser Rex How (郝明義) said.
Legislators hold a very low position in people’s hearts and many accuse them of only doing their parties’ bidding after they are elected, forgetting the promises they made during their campaigns, How said.
Huang actively pushed for the threshold for recall petitions to be lowered to improve the Legislative Yuan, How said, referring to an amendment to the Civil Servants Election and Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法) that was passed last month.
However, after the threshold was lowered, Huang himself became a target for recall, How said.
Former grand justice Hsu Yu-hsiu (許玉秀) said she regretted that people had petitioned to demand a recall election for Huang, when he actively fought for the electorate’s right to do so.
Huang is a hardworking legislator, Hsu said.
How and Hsu urged people to stand up and exercise their right cast a vote against Huang’s recall.
When asked during a radio interview yesterday whether he was confident that he would win the recall election, Huang said that he would not utter the words “I will win.”
Huang said he was 99 percent confident that the recall motion would not pass.
Media have reported that some groups have used ”recall Huang Kuo-chang, punish [President] Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文)” as a slogan in the campaign to recall Huang.
Huang said he did not believe that he was being “punished” for Tsai’s policies.
The Tsai administration is much better than former president Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) government and it is inappropriate to use such heavy words, Huang said.
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