Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) yesterday said that preparing oneself to be president is every citizen’s obligation, but running for the office is a right, not an obligation.
Ko, an independent, made the remarks in response to questions about his parents’ comments on whether he intends to run in next year’s presidential election.
Local media outlets on Monday asked Ko’s parents about their son’s plans when they visited Chengan Temple (奠安宮) in Changhua County’s Beidou Township (北斗).
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
Ko is preparing and will run for president if the opportunity arises, said Ko’s mother, Ho Jui-ying (何瑞英), but added that he has not yet made a decision.
Ko’s father, Ko Cheng-fa (柯承發), said his son is free to choose what he wants to do, but he thinks that it would be better if he were to continue being a doctor and saving lives.
“Preparing to be the president is a citizen’s obligation. However, running for president is not an obligation, but a right,” Ko Wen-je told reporters in Taipei yesterday.
He said that lobbyists for the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) had been swinging between persuading and dissuading him to run.
He said that was because the DPP’s poll results have been swinging, too, but added that fast-changing public opinion in Taiwan is not what a stable society should have.
He was also asked about DPP Taipei City Councilor Kao Chia-yu’s (高嘉瑜) remark that he was hesitant to announce his presidential bid because he cannot overcome his “inner demons” telling him that he should not be a “runaway mayor,” that is, running for president when his term as mayor has not ended.
“The election landscape in Taiwan is different from that of normal countries... It is too strange, but what can we do if Taiwan is not a normal country?” Ko Wen-je said.
“Nonetheless, even in abnormal times, we should try our best to make it normal,” he added.
Asked to confirm Kao’s remark that she had turned down his offer to become Taipei deputy mayor, Ko Wen-je said he had asked her before, but added that the issue needed more serious consideration.
“The reason why presidents elected after 2000 have not done a good job is because they lack training,” he said.
Even though he considers himself smart and hardworking, it still took him two years to familiarize himself with a mayor’s job, he said.
It is “quite scary” if a person with no experience at all is elected to an important national post, he added.
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