Lim Tshiong-tso (;
Tâi-lô: ''Lîm Tshióng-tsò''; born 1 February 1976), known also by his English name Freddy, is a
Taiwanese politician and musician. He is the lead vocalist of the Taiwanese heavy-metal band
Chthonic
In Greek mythology, deities referred to as chthonic () or chthonian () were gods or spirits who inhabited the underworld or existed in or under the earth, and were typically associated with death or fertility. The terms "chthonic" and "chthonian" ...
and the lead vocalist of the band started by him and American guitarist
Marty Friedman
(born December 8, 1962) is an American guitarist, best known for his tenure as the lead guitarist of thrash metal band Megadeth from 1990 to 2000. He is also known for playing alongside Jason Becker in Cacophony from 1986 until 1989, as well ...
. Lim served as chair of
Amnesty International
Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says that it has more than ten million members a ...
Taiwan from 2010 to 2014. He was one of the founding leaders of the
New Power Party
The New Power Party (NPP) is a political party in Taiwan formed in early 2015. The party emerged from the Sunflower Student Movement in 2014, and advocates for universal human rights, civil liberties, civil and political freedom, political libe ...
(NPP) in Taiwan and represented the party in the
Legislative Yuan
The Legislative Yuan () is the unicameral legislature of the Republic of China (Taiwan) located in Taipei. The Legislative Yuan is composed of 113 members, who are directly elected for four-year terms by people of the Taiwan Area through a ...
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
Chinese unification, also known as Cross-Strait unification or Chinese reunification, is the potential unification of territories currently controlled, or claimed, by the People's Republic of China ("China" or "Mainland China") and the Repub ...
as a student, because he was taught from China-centric textbooks in middle school and high school.
A diagnosis of anxiety in middle school made him ineligible for military duty.
Lim formed
Chthonic
In Greek mythology, deities referred to as chthonic () or chthonian () were gods or spirits who inhabited the underworld or existed in or under the earth, and were typically associated with death or fertility. The terms "chthonic" and "chthonian" ...
in 1995, during his second year of university, when he began identifying more strongly with his Taiwanese identity.
Often known simply as Freddy in Taiwan,
Lim chose to name himself after
Freddy Krueger
Freddy Krueger () is a fictional character and the antagonist of the ''A Nightmare on Elm Street'' horror film franchise. Created by Wes Craven, he made his debut in Craven's '' A Nightmare on Elm Street'' (1984) as the malevolent spirit of a ...
.
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.
With fellow Chthonic member and wife Doris Yeh,
Lim started the Taiwan Rock Alliance, and as co-founder of The Wall, helped organize two music festivals,
Formoz and
Megaport.
Lim's stake in The Wall was bought out in 2012, and amid the resulting dispute, both festivals were cancelled in 2014.
They returned in the next year, organized by Lim's Taiwan Rock Alliance.
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
The February 28 incident (also called the February 28 massacre, the 228 incident, or the 228 massacre) was an anti-government uprising in Taiwan in 1947 that was violently suppressed by the Kuomintang–led nationalist government of the R ...
.
It then used the name Say Yes to Taiwan until 2007, when it was renamed again to Spirit of Taiwan.
Lim was elected to lead
Amnesty International
Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says that it has more than ten million members a ...
Taiwan in 2010 and stepped down in 2014.
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.
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".
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.
Entry into politics
In January 2015, Lim founded the
New Power Party
The New Power Party (NPP) is a political party in Taiwan formed in early 2015. The party emerged from the Sunflower Student Movement in 2014, and advocates for universal human rights, civil liberties, civil and political freedom, political libe ...
.
The next month Lim declared his candidacy for the
2016 elections
Africa
Benin Republic
*2016 Beninese presidential election 6 March 2016
Cape Verde
* 2016 Cape Verdean presidential election 2 October 2016
Chad
* 2016 Chadian presidential election 10 April 2016
Djibouti
* 2016 Djiboutian presidential ...
, aiming to contest the
Daan District legislative seat held by
Kuomintang
The Kuomintang (KMT) is a major political party in the Republic of China (Taiwan). It was the one party state, sole ruling party of the country Republic of China (1912-1949), during its rule from 1927 to 1949 in Mainland China until Retreat ...
incumbent
Chiang Nai-shin.
A few weeks later, Lim ceded the race to Social Democratic Party candidate ,
choosing instead to run against incumbent
Kuomintang
The Kuomintang (KMT) is a major political party in the Republic of China (Taiwan). It was the one party state, sole ruling party of the country Republic of China (1912-1949), during its rule from 1927 to 1949 in Mainland China until Retreat ...
legislator
Lin Yu-fang in the
Zhongzheng–
Wanhua constituency.
The
Democratic Progressive Party
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is a centre to centre-left Taiwanese nationalist political party in Taiwan. As the dominant party in the Pan-Green Coalition, one of the two main political camps in Taiwan, the DPP is currently the ...
did not nominate candidates in the constituency, choosing to support Lim,
who defeated Lin in the elections held on 16 January 2016.
Lim was assigned to the (FNDC) after taking office.
In October, Lim announced the formation of a Tibet caucus in the Legislative Yuan, with himself as caucus leader.
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,
but
Minister of National Defence, General
Yen Teh-fa disagreed, claiming that troops followed the
standard operating procedure
A standard operating procedure (SOP) is a set of step-by-step instructions compiled by an organization to help workers carry out routine operations. SOPs aim to achieve efficiency, quality output, and uniformity of performance, while reducing mis ...
in effect during
martial law
Martial law is the replacement of civilian government by military rule and the suspension of civilian legal processes for military powers. Martial law can continue for a specified amount of time, or indefinitely, and standard civil liberties ...
, and have been
court-martial
A court-martial (plural ''courts-martial'' or ''courts martial'', as "martial" is a postpositive adjective) is a military court or a trial conducted in such a court. A court-martial is empowered to determine the guilt of members of the arme ...
ed; later the
Ministry of National Defense
A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and military forces, found in states where the government is divide ...
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.
In August 2019, Lim announced that he would leave the New Power Party to support
Tsai Ing-wen
Tsai Ing-wen (; pinyin: ''Cài Yīngwén''; born 31 August 1956) is a Taiwanese politician and legal scholar who served as the seventh president of the Republic of China (Taiwan) from 2016 to 2024. A member of the Democratic Progressive Party ...
in the
2020 Taiwan presidential election. Lim also stated that he would run for legislative reelection as a political independent. He won reelection in January 2020, defeating Lin Yu-fang for a second time.
The
Central Election Commission
An election commission is a body charged with overseeing the implementation of electioneering process of any country. The formal names of election commissions vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, and may be styled an electoral commission, a c ...
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. 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. was held on 9 January 2022, the same day as the replacement vote for Taichung's 2nd legislative district, where
Chen Po-wei in October 2021.
Supporters of the recall effort have criticized Lim for his response to the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
in his district. A total of 218 polling stations were open during the recall vote. Although votes to recall Lim outnumbered votes against Lim's recall, low turnout meant that the result was not binding.
Lim announced in March 2023 that he did not plan to contest the
2024 Taiwanese legislative election
Legislative elections were held in Taiwan on 13 January 2024 to elect members of the Legislative Yuan of the Republic of China, Legislative Yuan. The elections were held alongside 2024 Taiwanese presidential election, presidential elections.
Th ...
, citing the need to care for an ill relative. On 27 November 2023 he announced that he would join the
Democratic Progressive Party
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is a centre to centre-left Taiwanese nationalist political party in Taiwan. As the dominant party in the Pan-Green Coalition, one of the two main political camps in Taiwan, the DPP is currently the ...
(DPP), at the urging of
Vice President
A vice president or vice-president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vi ...
and DPP
presidential candidate Lai Ching-te
Lai Ching-te (; pinyin: ''Lài Qīngdé''; born 6 October 1959), also known as William Lai, is a Taiwanese politician and former physician who is currently serving as the eighth president of the Republic of China (Taiwan) since May 2024. He is ...
.
In May 2025, Lim was named the Taiwanese representative to Finland.
Political stances
Lim favors the abolition of
capital punishment
Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence (law), sentence ordering that an offender b ...
,
and supports the legalization of
same-sex marriage
Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same legal Legal sex and gender, sex. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 38 countries, with a total population of 1.5 ...
and
marijuana use in Taiwan.
References
External links
*
*
*
*
Metalhead Politicson
Spotify
Spotify (; ) is a List of companies of Sweden, Swedish Music streaming service, audio streaming and media service provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. , it is one of the largest providers of music streaming services ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lim, Freddy
1976 births
Living people
Taipei Members of the Legislative Yuan
Taiwanese male singer-songwriters
Taiwanese singer-songwriters
Taiwan independence activists
Musicians from Taipei
Erhu players
Black metal musicians
Taiwanese lyricists
National Taipei University alumni
New Power Party Members of the Legislative Yuan
Amnesty International people
Members of the 9th Legislative Yuan
Taiwanese political party founders
Music festival founders
New Power Party chairpersons
Taiwanese human rights activists
20th-century Taiwanese male singers
21st-century Taiwanese male singers
21st-century Taiwanese singers
Members of the 10th Legislative Yuan