Freddy Lim
MLY
林昶佐
Official portrait, 2020
Member of the Legislative Yuan
Assumed office
1 February 2016
Preceded byLin Yu-fang
Succeeded byWu Pei-yi
ConstituencyTaipei City V
1st Leader of the New Power Party
In office
25 January 2015 – 2 July 2015
Preceded byPosition established
Succeeded byHuang Kuo-chang
Personal details
Born (1976-02-01) 1 February 1976
Taipei, Taiwan
Political partyDemocratic Progressive Party (since 2023)
Other political
affiliations		New Power Party (2015–2019)
Independent (2019-2023)
SpouseDoris Yeh
Alma materTaipei Private Yan Ping High School
National Taipei University
Freddy Lim
Traditional Chinese林昶佐

Freddy Lim Tshiong-tso (Chinese: 林昶佐; pinyin: Lín Chǎngzuǒ; Tâi-lô: Lîm Tshióng-tsò; born 1 February 1976) is a Taiwanese politician, musician, and independence activist. He is the lead vocalist of the Taiwanese heavy-metal band Chthonic. and the lead vocalist of the band Metal Clone X started by him and American guitarist Marty Friedman. Lim served as chair of Amnesty International Taiwan from 2010 to 2014. He was one of the founding leaders of the New Power Party (NPP) in Taiwan and represented the party in the Legislative Yuan until 2019. Lim won a second legislative term as an independent in 2020.

Early life and music career

Lim was an ardent supporter of Chinese unification as a student, because he was taught from China-centric textbooks in middle school and high school.[1] A diagnosis of anxiety in middle school made him ineligible for military duty.[2][3] Lim formed Chthonic in 1995, during his second year of university, when he began identifying more strongly with his Taiwanese identity.[1]

Often known simply as Freddy in Taiwan,[4][5] Lim chose to name himself after Freddy Krueger.[6] On stage, Lim is known as "Left Face of Maradou" and wore corpse paint portraying the Ba-Jia-Jiang in performances until 2011, when the band ended their use of corpse paint.[7][8]

With fellow Chthonic member and wife Doris Yeh,[9][10] Lim started the Taiwan Rock Alliance, and as co-founder of The Wall, helped organize two music festivals, Formoz and Megaport.[11][12] Lim's stake in The Wall was bought out in 2012, and amid the resulting dispute, both festivals were cancelled in 2014.[13] They returned in the next year, organized by Lim's Taiwan Rock Alliance.[14] The Taiwan Rock Alliance has also put on a separate concert since 2000. Originally named Say No to China, the concert occurs some time around the anniversary of the February 28 incident.[15] It then used the name Say Yes to Taiwan until 2007, when it was renamed again to Spirit of Taiwan.[16]

Lim was elected to lead Amnesty International Taiwan in 2010 and stepped down in 2014.[17]

Chthonic was billed to play on the second day of the 2018 On the Pulse of Music Festival, but the performance had to be cancelled because Hong Kong Immigration Department refused to grant Lim a visa. Although the Immigration Department says it does not comment on individual cases, the rejection letter was published by the group's local sponsor, Goomusic. In the letter, officials stated that a person seeking to enter Hong Kong for employment "should, amongst other things, possess a special skill, knowledge or experience of value to and not readily available in the HKSAR", and that the immigration Department was not satisfied that Lim met the criteria.[18] Commentator Stephen Vines questioned the black box operation of an unaccountable bureaucracy, saying it was "no wonder this sort of nonsense was not intended to be made public, otherwise questions might well be asked about whether the newfound musical expertise of the bureaucrats was going to apply to all the very large number of other musicians playing gigs in Hong Kong".[19]

In 2020, he started an English podcast with Taiwanese journalist Emily Y. Wu called Metalhead Politics to direct international attention to Taiwan's political issues: "It's important to get people listening to what's going on here — whether they're metalheads or not".[20]

In politics

In January 2015, Lim founded the New Power Party.[21] The next month Lim declared his candidacy for the 2016 elections, aiming to contest the Daan District legislative seat held by Kuomintang incumbent Chiang Nai-shin.[22] A few weeks later, Lim ceded the race to Social Democratic Party candidate Fan Yun,[23] choosing instead to run against incumbent Kuomintang legislator Lin Yu-fang in the Zhongzheng–Wanhua constituency.[24] The Democratic Progressive Party did not nominate candidates in the constituency, choosing to support Lim,[25] who defeated Lin in the elections held on 16 January 2016.[26] Lim was assigned to the Foreign and National Defense Committee (FNDC) after taking office.[27] In October, Lim announced the formation of a Tibet caucus in the Legislative Yuan, with himself as caucus leader.[28][29]

Taipei City Constituency 5 in the 2016 Legislative Yuan election
Candidate Party Votes Percentage
Freddy Lim 林昶佐 New Power Party 82,650 49.52%
Lin Yu-fang 林郁方 Kuomintang 76,079 45.58%
You Jui-min 尤瑞敏 Trees Party 4,506 2.69%
Kung Wei-lun 龔偉綸 Independent 1,710 1.02%
Li Chia-hsin 李家幸 Taiwan Independence Party 885 0.53%
Huang Fu-liao 黃福卿 Independent 587 0.35%
Hung Hsien-cheng 洪顯政 Constitutional Conventions of Taiwan 478 0.28%
Source Total 166,895 100%

On 3 October 2018 during the FNDC session, Lim proposed to re-examine the 1987 Lieyu massacre files in the military archive to render a formal apology to the victims' families through the Vietnamese Representative Office,[30][31] but Minister of National Defence, General Yen Teh-fa disagreed, claiming that troops followed the standard operating procedure in effect during martial law, and have been court-martialed; later the Ministry of National Defense issued a written response stating that the case "could not be processed further, as it is too difficult to identify the deceased after so much time has passed," which serve as the sole statement of the ROC government for the massacre in 31 years after martial law was lifted in 1987.[32][33]

In August 2019, Lim announced that he would leave the New Power Party to support Tsai Ing-wen in the 2020 Taiwan presidential election. Lim also stated that he would run for legislative reelection as a political independent.[34][35] He won reelection in January 2020, defeating Lin Yu-fang for a second time.[36]

The Central Election Commission announced on 10 August 2021 that a petition to recall Lim had gathered enough support, one percent of the eligible electorate in his constituency, to pass the first stage.[37] On 3 December 2021, the CEC announced that the recall movement against Lim garnered 27,362 valid signatures, more than the ten percent threshold required in the second stage to trigger a recall election. Lim's recall election was held on 9 January 2022, the same day as the replacement vote for Taichung's 2nd legislative district, where Chen Po-wei lost a recall vote in October 2021.[38][39] Supporters of the recall effort have criticized Lim for his response to the COVID-19 pandemic in his district.[40] A total of 218 polling stations were open during the recall vote.[41] Although votes to recall Lim outnumbered votes against Lim's recall, low turnout meant that the result was not binding.[42]

Lim announced in March 2023 that he did not plan to contest the 2024 Taiwanese legislative election,[43][44] citing the need to care for an ill relative.[45] On 27 November 2023 he announced that he would join the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), at the urging of Vice President and DPP presidential candidate Lai Ching-te.[46]

Political stances

Lim favors the abolition of capital punishment,[47] and supports the legalization of same-sex marriage and marijuana use in Taiwan.[48][49]

References

  1. 1 2 Gerber, Abraham (17 November 2015). "INTERVIEW: Metal band singer Freddy Lim talks about politics". Taipei Times. Retrieved 17 November 2015.
  2. ↑ "時代力量參選人被爆逃兵役 網友酸沒盡義務不敢投". Apple Daily (in Chinese). 25 August 2015. Archived from the original on 22 November 2015. Retrieved 22 November 2015 – via Yam News.
  3. ↑ "Freddy因焦慮受關注 柯P這樣說..." Liberty Times (in Chinese). 27 August 2015. Retrieved 27 August 2015.
  4. ↑ Frazier, David (4 May 2001). "Music industry prepares to pat itself on the back". Taipei Times. Retrieved 10 April 2016.
  5. ↑ Woodworth, Max (27 February 2004). "Say it loud: 'Up yours China'". Taipei Times. Retrieved 10 April 2016.
  6. ↑ Frazier, David (22 June 2001). "Monsters of rock loom over Taipei". Taipei Times. Retrieved 10 April 2016.
  7. ↑ Sherwin, Adam (20 January 2016). "Freddy Lim: Meet Taiwan's new rock'n'roll lawmaker". The Independent. Retrieved 9 April 2016.
  8. ↑ Bansal, Andrew (9 September 2011). "Interview: Chthonic Bassist Doris Yeh Discusses New Album and Scary Touring Experiences". Guitar World. Retrieved 9 April 2016.
  9. ↑ Shih, Eric (11 July 2009). "Shooting for the stars". Taipei Times. Retrieved 23 April 2016.
  10. ↑ Woodworth, Max (8 October 2004). "Rock 'n' roll pow-wow". Taipei Times. Retrieved 9 April 2016.
  11. ↑ Quartly, Jules (30 July 2004). "When is dance music not electronica?". Taipei Times. Retrieved 9 April 2016.
  12. ↑ Woodworth, Max (10 July 2004). "Michelle Shocked set to rock Formoz". Taipei Times. Retrieved 9 April 2016.
  13. ↑ Frazier, David (24 January 2014). "Live Wire: Lunar New Year line up". Taipei Times. Retrieved 9 April 2016.
  14. ↑ Frazier, David (20 March 2015). "Live Wire: Battling music festivals: Megaport vs T-Fest". Taipei Times. Retrieved 10 April 2016.
  15. ↑ Brownlow, Ron (28 February 2007). "Tune in, turn on, tell the truth". Taipei Times. Retrieved 9 April 2016.
  16. ↑ Brownlow, Ron (27 February 2008). "Rock talks". Taipei Times. Retrieved 10 April 2016.
  17. ↑ Liao, George (16 January 2016). "NPP's Freddy Lim declares election victory". Taiwan News. Retrieved 3 May 2017.
  18. ↑ "Why Hong Kong rejected Taiwanese singer's visa application". South China Morning Post. 24 December 2018.
  19. ↑ "How the government works in the dark EJINSIGHT – ejinsight.com". EJINSIGHT.
  20. ↑ Sayce, Rob (17 August 2020). "'We want a fairer society': Freddy Lim, Taiwan's metalhead MP". the Guardian. Retrieved 9 November 2021.
  21. ↑ Su, Fang-ho; Chen, Wei-han (26 June 2015). "INTERVIEW: Freddy Lim unfolds New Power Party platform". Taipei Times. Retrieved 17 November 2015.
  22. ↑ Chen, Wei-han (23 February 2015). "Metal singer to run for legislator". Taipei Times. Retrieved 18 November 2015.
  23. ↑ Wen, Lii (17 March 2015). "Freddy Lim withdraws from Daan poll". Taipei Times. Retrieved 18 November 2015.
  24. ↑ Loa, Lok-sin (20 March 2015). "Freddy Lim to run in Wanhua-Zhongzheng". Taipei Times. Retrieved 17 November 2015.
  25. ↑ Loa, Lok-sin (10 December 2015). "DPP approves list of candidates outside the party to support". Taipei Times. Retrieved 10 April 2016.
  26. ↑ Hsiao, Alison (17 January 2016). "ELECTIONS: DPP secures absolute majority in Legislative Yuan". Taipei Times. Retrieved 17 January 2016.
  27. ↑ Gerber, Abraham (23 February 2016). "Rules on committee members selection irk NPP lawmakers". Taipei Times. Retrieved 23 February 2016.
  28. ↑ Chen, Chun-hua; Hsu, Elizabeth (7 October 2016). "Tibet caucus established in Taiwan's Legislature". Central News Agency. Retrieved 8 October 2016.
  29. ↑ Gerber, Abraham (8 October 2016). "Lawmakers establish Tibet group". Taipei Times. Retrieved 8 October 2016.
  30. ↑ "【19屍20命】浯島文學首獎探討「三七事件」小金門的殺戮時代" [Top Prize of the Wudao Literacy Award for the Research on March 7 Incident,the Killing Era in Lesser Kinmen]. UP Media (in Chinese (Taiwan)). Kinmen. 23 November 2019. Retrieved 27 December 2021.
  31. ↑ Guan Ren-jian (7 March 2008). "國軍屠殺越南難民的三七事件" [ROC Army Massacre Vietnamese Refugees in March Incident] (in Chinese (Taiwan)). PChome News. Retrieved 27 December 2021.
  32. ↑ 外交及國防委員會 (3 October 2018). "會議隨選" [Proceedings Broadcast of the Foreign and National Defense Committee of the Legislative Yuan, IVOD Network Multimedia Video System] (in Chinese (Taiwan)). Taipei: 立法院議事轉播IVOD網路多媒體隨選視訊系統. Retrieved 27 December 2021.
  33. ↑ 林昶佐委員、嚴德發部長 (3 October 2018). "267立法院公報第107卷第81期委員會紀錄立法院第9屆第6會期外交及國防委員會第3次全體委員會議紀錄" [Foreign and National Defense Committee Records No. 3, Legislative Yuan Gazette, Vol. 107, No. 81, Legislative Yuan Term 9, Session 6] (PDF) (in Chinese (Taiwan)). Taipei: 立法院公報第107卷第81期. Retrieved 27 December 2021.
  34. ↑ Maxon, Ann (2 August 2019). "Lim to leave NPP, back Tsai re-election bid". Taipei Times. Retrieved 2 August 2019.
  35. ↑ Cheng, Chun-hua; Yu, Hsiao-han; Liu, Kuan-ting; Chung, Yu-chen (1 August 2019). "NPP legislator quits party to run as independent". Central News Agency. Retrieved 1 August 2019.
  36. ↑ Lin, Sean (12 January 2020). "2020 Elections: DPP maintains its legislative majority". Taipei Times. Retrieved 12 January 2020.
  37. ↑ Lin, Yu-hsuan; Yeh, Joseph (10 August 2021). "Petition to recall lawmaker Freddy Lim passes first stage". Central News Agency. Retrieved 13 August 2021. Republished as: "Petition against Lim to proceed to second stage". Taipei Times. 14 August 2021. Retrieved 14 August 2021.
  38. ↑ Strong, Matthew (3 December 2021). "Taiwan sets Jan. 9 for recall vote of rock star legislator". Taiwan News. Retrieved 3 December 2021.
  39. ↑ Lai, Yu-chen; Wang, Yang-yu; Liu, Kay (3 December 2021). "Date set for recall vote of lawmaker Freddy Lim". Central News Agency. Retrieved 4 December 2021. Republished as: "Lim recall vote scheduled for January 9". Taipei Times. 4 December 2021. Retrieved 4 December 2021.
  40. ↑ Hale, Erin (7 January 2022). "Taiwan Rock Star Politician Faces Recall Vote". Voice of America. Retrieved 8 January 2022.
  41. ↑ Yeh, Joseph (9 January 2022). "Independent Legislator Freddy Lim survives recall vote". Central News Agency. Retrieved 9 January 2022. Republished as: "Lim squeaks through recall vote". Taipei Times. 10 January 2022. Retrieved 10 January 2022.
  42. ↑ Yeh, Joseph (9 January 2022). "Independent Legislator Freddy Lim survives recall vote (update)". Central News Agency. Retrieved 9 January 2022.
  43. ↑ Everington, Keoni (13 March 2023). "Freddy Lim announces he will not run in 2024 Taiwan elections". Taiwan News. Retrieved 3 September 2023.
  44. ↑ "Independent lawmaker Freddy Lim announces he won't run for reelection in 2024". Formosa Television. 17 March 2023. Retrieved 3 September 2023.
  45. ↑ Hetherington, William (18 March 2023). "Freddy Lim to retire from politics, look after family". Taipei Times. Retrieved 3 September 2023.
  46. ↑ "Independent lawmaker Freddy Lim applies to join DPP". Central News Agency. 27 November 2023. Retrieved 27 November 2023.
  47. ↑ Chou, Christine (29 March 2016). "Legislator pushes for harsher death penalty law". China Post. Retrieved 10 April 2016.
  48. ↑ Hsiao, Alison (13 January 2016). "ELECTIONS: KMT challenges Tsai over death penalty". Taipei Times. Retrieved 10 April 2016.
  49. ↑ van der Horst, Linda (6 January 2016). "The Rise of Taiwan's 'Third Force'". The Diplomat. Retrieved 10 April 2016.
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