Twu Shiing-jer (; born 17 June 1951) is a Taiwanese epidemiologist, physician, and politician. He was the minister of the Department of Health from 2002 to 2003 and later served in the Legislative Yuan from 2008 to 2012. He was the Mayor of Chiayi City from 25 December 2014 to 25 December 2018.
Early life and education Twu was born in Puzi, Chiayi County, to Tu Bing-rong, a mathematics teacher, and Tu Hou-cai. He has four brothers and sisters. In 1969, Twu graduated from National Chiayi Senior High School.
After high school, Twu graduated from National Taiwan University with a Bachelor of Medicine (M.B.) in 1976 and a Master of Public Health (M.P.H.) in 1978. He then completed doctoral studies in the United States, earning his Ph.D. in epidemiology in 1995 from the University of California, Los Angeles, under professors Roger Detels and Sander Greenland. His doctoral dissertation was titled, "Does hepatitis B viral infection promote HIV-1 infection and the progression to AIDS?".
Health minister Twu succeeded Lee Ming-liang as minister of the Department of Health on 1 September 2002. Twu was shortly after accused of sexual harassment by Cheng Ko-jung, a restaurant owner. This claim was amplified by Diane Lee, a Legislative Yuan member. Cheng and Lee both apologised after realising that Twu had been confused with another man, the Health Ministry's Department of Personnel chief Tu Hau-lin. Tu was later found guilty. Cheng Li-wun, a former National Assembly member, was expelled from the Democratic Progressive Party after having made disparaging comments about Twu. In the wake of the SARS outbreak in Taiwan, Twu resigned on 16 May 2003.
Mayor of Chiayi City
2009 Chiayi City mayor election Twu joined the 2009 Republic of China local elections for the position of Chiayi City mayor. The elections were held on 5 December 2009. He eventually lost to Kuomintang candidate Huang Min-hui.
2009 Chiayi City Mayoralty Election ResultNo. Candidate Party Votes Percentage 1Huang Min-huiKMT69,96252.20%2Lin Sheng-fen ()Independent2,8012.09%3Twu Shiing-jerDPP61,26845.71%
2014 Chiayi City mayor election Twu won a party primary held in March 2014, and was named the Democratic Progressive Party candidate for the Chiayi City mayoralty. In September, Twu asked the voters to choose the best person, not the wealthiest, referring to politicians from Kuomintang who were mostly backed by their huge assets and government resources to work with business conglomerates run by wealthy families to control local political factions and influence election outcomes. He ran his campaign under the slogan Bold leadership, Chuluo, heading up for Taiwan (). Chiayi was a part of Chuluo County until 1787 when it was renamed.
Twu was elected as the Mayor of Chiayi City after winning the 2014 Chiayi City mayoralty election held on 29 November 2014.
2014 Chiayi City Mayoralty Election ResultNo. Candidate Party Votes Percentage 1Chen Hsiu-li ()Independent6330.44%2Chen Tai-shan ()Independent7860.54%3Chen Yi-chen ()KMT66,10845.50%4Twu Shiing-jerDPP74,69851.41%5Hsu Wen-chien ()Independent3300.23%6Lin Shi-han ()People Democratic Front2,7471.89%
2018 Chiayi City mayor election
2018 Democratic Progressive Party Chiayi City mayoral primary results Candidates Place Result Twu Shiing-jer Walkover
2018 Chiayi City mayoral results No. Candidate Party Votes Percentage 1 Hsiao Shui-li Independent25,57217.98% 2 Huang Min-hui Kuomintang58,55841.18% 3 Huang Hung Chen Taiwan Ah Chen World Great Person Rich President () Independent1,8221.28% 4 Twu Shiing-jerDemocratic Progressive Party56,25639.56% Total voters 212,843 Valid votes 142,208 Invalid votes Voter turnout 66.81%
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