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2012 ELECTIONS: DPP
demands that KMT apologize for ‘pimp’ comment
By Lee Hsin-fang / Staff Reporter
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP)
spokespersons Chuang Ruey-hsiung, left, Chen Chi-mai, center, and Kang Yu-cheng
yesterday demand President Ma Ying-jeou, who doubles as Chinese Nationalist
Party (KMT) chairman, apologize for his party’s personal attacks on David Ho
after KMT legislators called him “an extremely despicable pimp” and “the scum”
of the high-tech sector.
Photo: Lin Cheng-kung, Taipei Times
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP)
yesterday demanded an apology from President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) for remarks made
by lawmakers from the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) who called world-renowned
AIDS researcher David Ho (何大一) a “pimp.”
The actual phrase used by KMT Legislator Alex Tsai (蔡正元) in his criticism of Ho
was san qi zai (三 七仔), which means a hustler in Hoklo (commonly known as
Taiwanese), referring to a method of splitting revenue 30-70 with a prostitute.
Tsai said during a political TV show that Ho’s role in the Yu Chang Biologics Co
(宇昌生技股份有限公司) case was not that of a scientist, but rather that of a “san qi zai,
and a very terrible one at that,” while fellow KMT Legislator Chiu Yi (邱毅) also
called Ho “a disgrace to the scientific field.”
The Yu Chang issue came to the fore on Thursday last week when KMT legislators
raised questions concerning procedural legality and alleged irregularities on
DPP presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) part in her capacity as vice
premier in 2007 on the founding of Yu Chang, now known as TaiMed Biologics Co
(中裕新藥股份有限公司).
The KMT accused Tsai Ing-wen of a conflict of interest for signing off on the
investment and then becoming the company’s chairperson just months after
stepping down as vice premier, to which the DPP has responded by saying that she
stepped down as vice premier in May 2007 and did not join TaiMed until three
months later at the invitation of former Academia Sinica president Lee Yuan-tseh
(李遠哲), Academia Sinica president Wong Chi-huey (翁啟惠) and Ho.
In view of the KMT lawmakers’ latest criticism of Ho — a -Taiwanese--American
who is a renowned scientist in the field of HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention
and also director and chief executive of the Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center
— DPP spokesperson Kang Yu-cheng (康裕成) questioned at a press conference
yesterday “whether the elections have to be like this, that after slandering
Tsai Ing-wen, [the KMT] also smears biotechnology scientists,” adding that Ma
and his campaign team should apologize.
“This insane form of general accusations and criticism of world-class
biotechnology researchers and scientists is all because Ma’s election efforts
are going downhill,” added DPP spokesperson, Chuang Ruey-hsiung (莊瑞雄). “The KMT
is slandering Tsai [Ing-wen] for the elections’ sake and now they’re dragging
world-class scientists into the fray.”
Translated by Jake Chung, staff writer
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