New Power Party Keelung City Councilor Chen Wei-chung (陳薇仲) has filed a police report and a criminal complaint alleging online harassment on Facebook, she said on Saturday.
After reposting an article about the budget for a city exposition on Facebook, a commenter wrote that she was “unconstructive,” “lazy,” “eye candy” and a “fucking gay city councilor” who “gains from corruption,” Chen said.
She filed the report with the police for public insult and defamation hoping it would teach people who comment online to discuss public issues and not insult other people’s body or gender, she said.
Cyberbullying often occurs during election season, when she has received threats such as “you better be careful what you say,” comments about her gender, calling her “eye candy” or “bar girl,” and other sexual harassment, she said, adding that she was used to it.
However, in this instance Chen filed a complaint because she does not want to see the quality of public discourse devolve into insults about a person’s age, gender or sexual orientation, she said.
For far too long, young, female politicians have often been looked down upon as “incapable” or “just a pretty face,” she said, adding that she hopes this legal action could increase sensitivity toward gender and respect for others in public discussions.
Being an advocate of LGBT issues and marriage equality, Chen said that she does not want to see people use the term “gay” as an insult, which is disrespectful to the LGBT community.
She hopes that Keelung residents would focus more on the duties of city councilors, such as their policy proposals, their actions in office and performance as public officials, so it was regrettable to see insulting comments while she was making suggestions on a budget issue, she said.
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a "tsunami watch" alert after a magnitude 8.7 earthquake struck off the Kamchatka Peninsula in northeastern Russia earlier in the morning. The quake struck off the east coast of the Kamchatka Peninsula at 7:25am (Taiwan time) at a depth of about 19km, the CWA said, citing figures from the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center. The CWA's Seismological Center said preliminary assessments indicate that a tsunami could reach Taiwan's coastal areas by 1:18pm today. The CWA urged residents along the coast to stay alert and take necessary precautions as waves as high as 1m could hit the southeastern
FINAL COUNTDOWN: About 50,000 attended a pro-recall rally yesterday, while the KMT and the TPP plan to rally against the recall votes today Democracy activists, together with arts and education representatives, yesterday organized a motorcade, while thousands gathered on Ketagalan Boulevard in Taipei in the evening in support of tomorrow’s recall votes. Recall votes for 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers and suspended Hsinchu City mayor Ann Kao (高虹安) are to be held tomorrow, while recall votes for seven other KMT lawmakers are scheduled for Aug. 23. The afternoon motorcade was led by the Spring Breeze Culture and Arts Foundation, the Tyzen Hsiao Foundation and the Friends of Lee Teng-hui Association, and was joined by delegates from the Taiwan Statebuilding Party and the Taiwan Solidarity
Instead of threatening tariffs on Taiwan-made chips, the US should try to reinforce cooperation with Taiwan on semiconductor development to take on challenges from the People’s Republic of China (PRC), a Taiwanese think tank said. The administration of US President Donald Trump has threatened to impose across-the-board import duties of 32 percent on Taiwan-made goods and levy a separate tariff on semiconductors, which Taiwan is hoping to avoid. The Research Institute for Democracy, Society, and Emerging Technology (DSET), a National Science and Technology Council think tank, said that US efforts should focus on containing China’s semiconductor rise rather than impairing Taiwan. “Without
The National Museum of Taiwan Literature is next month to hold an exhibition in Osaka, Japan, showcasing the rich and unique history of Taiwanese folklore and literature. The exhibition, which is to run from Aug. 10 to Aug. 20 at the city’s Central Public Hall, is part of the “We Taiwan” at Expo 2025 series, highlighting Taiwan’s cultural ties with the international community, National Museum of Taiwan Literature director Chen Ying-fang (陳瑩芳) said. Folklore and literature, among Taiwan’s richest cultural heritages, naturally deserve a central place in the global dialogue, Chen said. Taiwan’s folklore would be immediately apparent at the entrance of the
RSS