I just got up this post and my wife over my shoulder shouted that he’s always saying this from the very beginning! Always saying that he is going to take classes after something like this happens.
Wife said that he seems to be running his Mayoralty like he did in the ER. He may be great at saving lives and making snap decisions but that does not apply to running a city.[/quote]
Somehow the fact that you two disapprove of him isn’t much of a surprise to me.
Well, we can all agree that Ko is very gaff-prone and really doesn’t have a sense of what is and is not appropriate to say. I have friends working in the city government and oh the stories they tell (which can’t be shared here)!
‘NOT UP TO PAR’:Ko said there had been an instance of a single caller making 233 complaints without a response. Officials said they would start writing more tickets[/quote]
It’s hilarious how it almost seems like he’s going down a literal checklist of “things shitty about Taipei”. I just wonder if it really will lead anywhere. As others have said if he burns too many bridges then I fear nothing will come out of it. His heart is in the right place but he can’t just give the middle finger to anyone or anything he doesn’t like. Politics is a bit more complex than that.
That’s no Ko’s problem. I respect his complete lack of respect for his predecessors. Basically, he is running down a list of what’s wrong with Taipei, and he doesn’t care who he pisses off in the process. That’s really rare in any political culture, not to mention Taiwan’s.
At the same time, as a “political newcomer” (as he likes to say), he has a lot of views and behaviors that are far too unnuanced. His off-the-cuff jokes that aren’t funny only open the doors for people to criticize him and citizens to shout “Oh, how diu lian!” Maybe I’m underestimating him, though. Maybe he’s such a skilled politician that he knows these little gaffes will catch the media spotlight while his actual policies are largely overshadowed.
I like his recent comments on the merits of past colonialism. Not saying it was perfect in the past, but I think de-colonization was a hell of a lot worse.
I hope the spokesperson for city hall is getting a generous paycheck for putting up with this…
I doubt both of those. What scandal could be worse than accusations he “helped China kill people to harvest their organs?” What’s more likely is we’re going to just get used to crazy uncle Ko and stop listening at some point, kind of like Toronto did with Rob Ford.
The amount of corruption Ko is about to reveal is astonishing. Hao’s dad has had several potential whistleblowers killed. There is likely enough dirt on Ma in the city gov’t alone to make Ma a nervous man. The KMT has a long history of bumping people off.
Hao Potsun was the top man behind the Lafayette scandal, James Soong was the one disbursing the funds, and 7-8 people got killed in order to keep their mouthes shut. You do not know history very well.
I wasn’t aware there was a connection to either Hau or Soong – but that’s irrelevant, since neither Hau or Soong have anything even vaguely similar to power right now.
As Ko’s immediate predecessor, Hau Long-bin is the most at risk in all these revelations coming out about corruption and incompetence as most of it occurred during his tenure. Considering he likely wants to run for president this year, the timing couldn’t be worse for him.
Hao Potsun was the top man behind the Lafayette scandal, James Soong was the one disbursing the funds, and 7-8 people got killed in order to keep their mouthes shut. You do not know history very well.[/quote]
I wasn’t rolling my eyes at the history. I’m rolling my eyes at the idea that it is relevant to now.
Hao Longbin is not his dad…and Ma isn’t his father, either.
Hao Potsun was the top man behind the Lafayette scandal, James Soong was the one disbursing the funds, and 7-8 people got killed in order to keep their mouthes shut. You do not know history very well.[/quote]
I wasn’t rolling my eyes at the history. I’m rolling my eyes at the idea that it is relevant to now.
Hao Longbin is not his dad…and Ma isn’t his father, either.[/quote]
I do not get what you are trying to say with this.
The gangster/construction/KMT state is alive and well, and violence is part of its modus operandum. There have been murders in connection with the Dapu incident, even gangster intimidation against the protesters in front of Hau’s toilet seat. (The Tapei Arena).
You have intimidadion, violence and open collusion with gangsters all over the place, especially when you are looking into property scams you are up against people who do not shy away from killing.
A good recent example of the violence inherent in the construction state was the shooting of Sean Lien a few years ago. He was onstage with a candidate for city council in Yonghe whose father had paid a drug-addled enforcer to muscle in on landowners at Guting market to agree to the father’s redevelopment plan for the market. The enforcer was attempting to take revenge on the son and shot Lien instead.
