Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) has been detained and is being held incommunicado over alleged corruption dating to his time as mayor of Taipei.
His three defense lawyers issued a joint statement declaring that Ko would not file an appeal against the detention ruling.
The statement said that Ko had been “clear” before the detention hearing that he would not want to “cause difficulties for the court” and would not protest the court’s decision if detained.
According to the Code of Criminal Procedure (刑事訴訟法), Ko could be detained and held incommunicado for a maximum of four months without being formally charged.
As a result, his young supporters, known as the “little grasses” (小草), took to the streets last weekend in Taipei to express their discontent and anger over the “judicial injustice” in Ko’s case. They described Ko as Taiwan’s “Nelson Mandela.”
KMT INVOLVEMENT
During the rally, Ma Ying-jeou Foundation director Hsiao Hsu-tsen (蕭旭岑), a member of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and a prominent advocate of former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), was among those who gave a speech to the “little grasses.”
This combination of speakers was a bizarre as it was contradictory. An event of pure judicial nature was being politicized to the extreme. The “little grasses” were like a political tool being manipulated by politicians.
Mandela led black people in South Africa out of the old apartheid regime built upon racism, political injustice and unfairness. He laid the foundations for South African blacks to participate in politics and introduced a new era of justice in his country.
KO’S OPPORTUNISM
Ko, on the other hand, has never fought for the welfare of Taiwanese. He is a flip-flopping, ideologically averse opportunist who has taken up residence on the political fence.
Ko’s rise to the mayor of Taipei was the result of the political circumstances of the time, but his fall was a consequence of his own actions. He has been the architect of his own destruction.
Despite Ma’s eight-year term as president, the former KMT leader set the record for the lowest popularity rating among Taiwanese presidents. His election victories were also a result of the circumstances of that time. He has been a supporter of authoritarianism and, deep down, is an opponent of democracy.
During the KMT’s party-state regime that ruled Taiwan before martial law was lifted in 1987, Ma was an informant who hounded democracy activists. At the beginning, he even vigorously opposed direct presidential elections being held in Taiwan.
POLITICAL HYPOCRISY
Is it not ridiculous for the spokesperson of a former president who was anti-democratic and pro-authoritarianism to go on stage and give a speech about “political persecution” and “judicial injustice” in Taiwan?
There are probably many people who think it is unfair for the “little grasses” to give Ko their blind loyalty. They likely think their expectations for social reform have been exploited.
If the “little grasses” had a better understanding of the political environment, the judicial injustice and the violations of human rights during Taiwan’s authoritarian period under the KMT regime, they would know how free Taiwan is right now.
Chen Chi-nung is a political commentator.
Translated by Fion Khan
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