《TAIPEI TIMES 焦點》 KMT apologizes for Facebook post
Sun Kai-gung, center, who moderates the Facebook page of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Hung Hsiu-chu, speaks to reporters at the party’s headquarters in Taipei yesterday. Photo: Shih Hsiao-kuang, Taipei Times
By Jake Chung / Staff writer, with CNA
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday apologized for the comment “negotiations, my ass” posted via KMT Chairwoman Hung Hsiu-chu’s (洪秀柱) Facebook account in response to remarks at a live-streamed meeting of the KMT Central Standing Committee on Wednesday.
“KMT staff should refrain from any irrational or emotional language or commentary during the run-up to the party chairperson election in May, as it might cause unnecessary conflict and misunderstandings,” KMT Culture and Communications Committee deputy director Hu Wen-chi (胡文琦) said.
Hu’s admonishments came in response to Sun Kai-gung (孫楷恭), who moderates Hung’s Facebook page, using the chairwoman’s account to leave the message: “xie ni lao mu ji la” (“協你老母雞啦,” “negotiations, my ass”) in the comments section during a live stream of the committee meeting.
Sun’s comments were directed at KMT caucus convener Sufin Siluko (廖國棟), who called for further negotiations after committee member Yao Chiang-lin (姚江臨) asked that a controversial proposal passed by the committee on Wednesday last week — to only allow KMT members who have been in the party for more than a year, instead of four months, to compete in this year’s representative elections — be put to a vote.
While the comment was immediately removed, Hu said it was exceedingly inappropriate.
Sun, a student at Chung Yuan Christian University, yesterday said that he was caught up in the moment and forgot to switch out of Hung’s official account before posting the comment.
Sun said he was angered at seeing so many party heavyweights putting their own interests ahead of the party.
While saying that he would apologize to Sufin over his choice of words, Sun said the lawmaker should consider whether he owed the younger generation — whose chances of running for party representative positions might have been affected by the change — an apology for advocating his own interests by asking for negotiations on every issue.
In related news, staff managing President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) Facebook account earlier this week accidentally “liked” a post by former vice president Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) panning the president’s policies and accusing her of “only caring about herself.”
The Presidential Office yesterday said that the president’s social media manager clicked on the “like” button by accident, adding that the action had been reversed.
Additional reporting by Chung Li-hua
新聞來源:TAIPEI TIMES