Freddy Lim

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.

Freddy Lim

MLY
林昶佐
Lim in 2020
Member of the Legislative Yuan
Assumed office
1 February 2016
Preceded byLin Yu-fang
ConstituencyTaipei City V
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 partyIndependent (since 2019)
Other political
affiliations		New Power Party (2015–2019)
Spouse(s)Doris Yeh
Alma materTaipei Private Yan Ping High School
National Taipei University

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 politics

In January 2015, Lim founded the New Power Party.[20] 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.[21] A few weeks later, Lim ceded the race to Social Democratic Party candidate Fan Yun,[22] choosing instead to run against incumbent Kuomintang legislator Lin Yu-fang in the Zhongzheng–Wanhua constituency.[23] The Democratic Progressive Party did not nominate candidates in the constituency, choosing to support Lim,[24] who defeated Lin in the elections held on 16 January 2016.[25] Lim was assigned to the Foreign and National Defense Committee after taking office.[26] In October, Lim announced the formation of a Tibet caucus in the Legislative Yuan, with himself as caucus leader.[27][28]

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%

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.[29][30] He won reelection in January 2020, defeating Lin Yu-fang for a second time.[31]

Political stances

Lim favors the abolition of capital punishment,[32] and supports the legalization of same-sex marriage and marijuana use in Taiwan.[33][34]

See also

References
  1. 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. https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/2179415/why-hong-kong-rejected-taiwanese-singer-freddy-lims-visa
  19. http://www.ejinsight.com/20181228-how-the-government-works-in-the-dark/
  20. Su, Fang-ho; Chen, Wei-han (26 June 2015). "INTERVIEW: Freddy Lim unfolds New Power Party platform". Taipei Times. Retrieved 17 November 2015.
  21. Chen, Wei-han (23 February 2015). "Metal singer to run for legislator". Taipei Times. Retrieved 18 November 2015.
  22. Wen, Lii (17 March 2015). "Freddy Lim withdraws from Daan poll". Taipei Times. Retrieved 18 November 2015.
  23. Loa, Lok-sin (20 March 2015). "Freddy Lim to run in Wanhua-Zhongzheng". Taipei Times. Retrieved 17 November 2015.
  24. Loa, Lok-sin (10 December 2015). "DPP approves list of candidates outside the party to support". Taipei Times. Retrieved 10 April 2016.
  25. Hsiao, Alison (17 January 2016). "ELECTIONS: DPP secures absolute majority in Legislative Yuan". Taipei Times. Retrieved 17 January 2016.
  26. Gerber, Abraham (23 February 2016). "Rules on committee members selection irk NPP lawmakers". Taipei Times. Retrieved 23 February 2016.
  27. Chen, Chun-hua; Hsu, Elizabeth (7 October 2016). "Tibet caucus established in Taiwan's Legislature". Central News Agency. Retrieved 8 October 2016.
  28. Gerber, Abraham (8 October 2016). "Lawmakers establish Tibet group". Taipei Times. Retrieved 8 October 2016.
  29. Maxon, Ann (2 August 2019). "Lim to leave NPP, back Tsai re-election bid". Taipei Times. Retrieved 2 August 2019.
  30. 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.
  31. Lin, Sean (12 January 2020). "2020 Elections: DPP maintains its legislative majority". Taipei Times. Retrieved 12 January 2020.
  32. Chou, Christine (29 March 2016). "Legislator pushes for harsher death penalty law". China Post. Retrieved 10 April 2016.
  33. Hsiao, Alison (13 January 2016). "ELECTIONS: KMT challenges Tsai over death penalty". Taipei Times. Retrieved 10 April 2016.
  34. van der Horst, Linda (6 January 2016). "The Rise of Taiwan's 'Third Force'". The Diplomat. Retrieved 10 April 2016.
Party political offices
Preceded by
New office		 Captain of New Power Party
25 January 2015 – 2 July 2015		 Succeeded by
Huang Kuo-chang
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