By Eryk Michael Smith / Staff
KAOHSIUNG — Ten years after surviving the 2016 TransAsia Airways Flight 235 crash, former flight attendant Huang Jing-ya (黃敬雅) has formally entered the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) primary race for Kaohsiung City Council, relaunching a bid to enter politics after losing in the 2022 election.
The China Times reports Huang — currently an aide to DPP mayoral candidate Lai Jui-lung ( 賴瑞隆) — picked up her primary registration papers on February 4 at the DPP’s Kaohsiung City Party headquarters. Huang is seeking the seat representing the districts of Cianjhen (前鎮) and Siaogang (小港). Writing on social media, she said the life she “picked back up” from the icy Keelung River no longer belongs only to herself, but carries a responsibility to give back to the city.
The date marked exactly a decade since Flight 235 clipped a bridge shortly after takeoff from Taipei and crashed into the river, killing 43 people. Huang was among the survivors.
After an unsuccessful run in the 2022 local elections as a candidate for the Taiwan Statebuilding Party, Huang said she chose not to retreat, instead spending the past three years rebuilding local ties and listening more closely to community concerns. She said she is returning to the race with greater resolve and perspective, and called on voters to give her another chance to serve Kaohsiung.
