If He Allowed His Lips to Be Zipped, Would Ko Wen-je Still Be Ko Wen-je?

  If He Allowed His Lips to Be Zipped, Would Ko Wen-je Still Be Ko Wen-je?

United Daily News Editorial (Taipei, Taiwan)

May 9, 2018

 Translation of an Excerpt

Whether the DPP will continue to “yield” to Ko Wen-je in the Taipei City mayoral election, as grassroots’ dissenting voices heighten, the party central’s answer seems to be gradually shifting from “yes” to “no.” There are two major reasons to explain the DPP party central’s procrastination and indecision: Firstly, viewed from the direct factor, the DPP itself could not field in the capital city a candidate strong enough to compete with Ko Wen-je or Ting Shou-chung. If it fielded a candidate of its own, and obtained a disastrous showing in the end, it would be seeking humiliation by itself. The worst case scenario will be if the KMT’s Ting Shou-chung wins victory in a three-way race, the DPP will be quashed by losing an "ally" in the City Hall of the capital city.

Secondly, viewed from the indirect factor, Tsai Ing-wen attempts to collar Ko Wen-je in Taipei City in exchange for yielding to Ko Wen-je in the year-end mayoral election. Thus, she could eliminate the possibility of meeting Ko Wen-je’s challenge in the 2020 presidential election. So far as this point of view is concerned, Tsai Ing-wen of course is egoistic; however she could not fail to properly handle the grassroots backlash, at least in appearance she should strike a pose of giving Ko Wen-je a putdown.

Whether or not the DPP will “yield” to Ko Wen-je in Taipei City, putting it frankly, in actuality is a kind of “hijacking in the name of cooperation.” In politics, Ko Wen-je must echo and support the Tsai government’s policies, or at least not publically oppose or do something in putting down the DPP. In administration, he must cooperate by accepting the DPP’s personnel arrangements. The problem is: If Ko Wen-je were subservient to each and every demand of the DPP, would Ko Wen-je still be Ko Wen-je? If Ko Wen-je becomes the DPP's yes-man, then all his political charisma and all the energy that could be called "white power" would immediately vanish and he would immediately be abandoned by the Ko fans.

In fact, faced with a political party that constantly demands a single voice, not allowing others to speak out honestly, if Ko Wen-je should even be deprived of his special trait of “speaking his mind,” then his “originality” of attracting crowds would also disappear. His best option would be to gradually move toward keeping an appropriate distance from the DPP, which has become a "triad," and be himself.

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