Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) yesterday maintained that the opponents of pension reform who disrupted the Summer Universiade opening ceremony were “bastards” as he replied to a comment on Facebook.
Ko first made the remark on Sunday during a news conference after the protesters blocked foreign athletes entering the Taipei Municipal Stadium, where the ceremony was held on Saturday evening.
Ko also on Sunday posted on Facebook an aerial photograph of fireworks lighting up the sky above the stadium during the ceremony, thanking Universiade staff, volunteers, police officers and Taiwanese athletes for helping the ceremony continue smoothly, despite the incident.
Photo: Screengrab from Facebook
“Many staff members burst out in tears when the athletes were able to enter the stadium. I believe everyone has complicated emotions, but I want to quote a line from a comic: ‘The game is over if we give up now,’” he wrote. “The Universiade still has 10 days to go. I will stand with everyone. Let us do it together.”
The post received thousands of comments and more than 230,000 “likes” in 24 hours, including a comment that attracted even more attention than Ko’s post.
“You are the bastard. Being the mayor of Taipei and confidently vowing that nothing will go wrong during the Universiade, but what was the result? Who is the bastard now? We the residents of Taipei had not even asked you to pay for it,” the comment read.
It added that protesters have tried to disrupt several important international events, such as the G20 summit in Hamburg, Germany, but because adequate security measures were in place, the participants were able to arrive and leave safely, so the nations were not disgraced.
“Please tell all Taipei residents who the bastard is,” the netizen wrote.
Ko replied: “You and those anti-pension reform groups.”
Ko’s blunt reply attracted public attention, with many wondering whether it was written by Ko or by a member of his staff.
Later in the afternoon, Taipei City Government spokesman Liu Yi-ting (劉奕霆) said: “I confirmed the issue with the mayor, and the reply was indeed written by the mayor himself.”
“The mayor also mentioned that before the event, he clearly stated that the Universiade is not only Taipei’s Universiade, but also Taiwan’s, and the city government is hosting it as a national celebration, so he urged protesters not to disturb the Games, and also set up a special area for them to protest.”
“However, the mayor thinks the behavior of anti-pension reform groups that night has caused them to forfeit their legitimacy and support from the public, and disgraced the nation,” he said.
Asked whether Ko is worried about any legal repercussions, Liu said Ko will bear the responsibility for his words.
Ko’s reply had garnered more than 280,000 “likes” as of 8pm yesterday.
CHANGING LANDSCAPE: Many of the part-time programs for educators were no longer needed, as many teachers obtain a graduate degree before joining the workforce, experts said Taiwanese universities this year canceled 86 programs, Ministry of Education data showed, with educators attributing the closures to the nation’s low birthrate as well as shifting trends. Fifty-three of the shuttered programs were part-time postgraduate degree programs, about 62 percent of the total, the most in the past five years, the data showed. National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) discontinued the most part-time master’s programs, at 16: chemistry, life science, earth science, physics, fine arts, music, special education, health promotion and health education, educational psychology and counseling, education, design, Chinese as a second language, library and information sciences, mechatronics engineering, history, physical education
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) yesterday appealed to the authorities to release former Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) from pretrial detention amid conflicting reports about his health. The TPP at a news conference on Thursday said that Ko should be released to a hospital for treatment, adding that he has blood in his urine and had spells of pain and nausea followed by vomiting over the past three months. Hsieh Yen-yau (謝炎堯), a retired professor of internal medicine and Ko’s former teacher, said that Ko’s symptoms aligned with gallstones, kidney inflammation and potentially dangerous heart conditions. Ko, charged with
RSS