KMT silencing critics: ex-Youth League head

‘PARALLEL UNIVERSE’: Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu halted his campaign for 48 hours, Lee Zheng-hao said, adding that he had never witnessed anything of the kind

By Ann Maxon / Staff reporter





Former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Youth League secretary-general Lee Zheng-hao (李正皓) yesterday accused the party of silencing its critics after a KMT chapter in New Taipei City proposed revoking his membership for criticizing Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), the party’s presidential candidate.

The KMT’s Jhonghe District (中和) chapter on Tuesday passed a proposal to expel Lee for publicly criticizing Han.

The New Taipei City chapter yesterday reviewed the proposal and decided to recommend to party headquarters to expel him if Lee fails to make improvements.

If the headquarters expels him, Lee would be the fourth member to be dismissed from the party for publicly criticizing Han, following former KMT Central Advisory Committee member Chen Hung-chang (陳宏昌), former Kaohsiung County commissioner Yang Chiu-hsing (楊秋興) and former KMT Kaoshiung delegate Ao Po-sheng (敖博勝).

Lee, who in 2016 founded the Grassroots Alliance to reform the KMT, in a talk show on Monday accused Han of not devoting enough time to his election campaign.

Han is trailing President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) in polls, yet he still spends most of his weekends resting, Lee said.

For example, Han did nothing from noon on Saturday to Monday afternoon, Lee said, adding: “I have never seen a presidential candidate who rests for 48 hours straight.”

If he ended up getting dismissed, it would not be the KMT that fired him, but rather the “KYT” — a wordplay on the initials of Han’s first name — consisting of Han’s fans and party elite living in a bubble, Lee wrote on Facebook yesterday.

“Their strength has never been solving problems, but rather getting rid of the people who point out problems,” he said.

During Tuesday’s meeting at the chapter, he was told by disciplinary committee members that he would be given lighter punishments if he promised to speak about Han more discreetly in front of the media, he said.

He responded that he would not change his approach, as his comments about Han were based on facts, he said.

“My values are absolutely in line with the KMT and I have never shunned away from opportunities to criticize the Democratic Progressive Party when necessary,” he said.

While he has no control over the party revoking his membership, he would continue to speak up about the anxiety he shares with other young members, he said.

“[I will] let other young members in the party know that not every KMT member lives in a parallel universe conjured up by Han,” he said.