Taipei mayor-elect Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) yesterday defended his city official appointment decisions amid accusations that he is breaking his promises of transparency and selection through collective decisionmaking, and insisted that he has played by the rules, saying that he is upset about the protests.
Since Ko’s election at the end of last month, his appointments of city officials — including directors for the departments of labor, cultural affairs, environmental protection and social affairs — have been followed by protests from selection committee members who have characterized the selection process as opaque and defective.
The latest protest came on Saturday, when the selection committee chair for the director of the department of cultural affairs, Chen Chi-nan (陳其南), published an open letter to Ko, saying that — while he trusted Ko — people around him might be trying to hide things from him. Chen hinted that director-to-be Ni Chong-hua (倪重華) might have “cheated” to get the appointment.
Photo: Lo Pei-der, Taipei Times
Chen wrote that Ni had arranged for “his people” to be on the committee, to make sure that he would become one of the three finalists from whom Ko and his close associates would choose the director.
“I do not know how to answer the question; isn’t he [Chen] the head of the selection committee?” Ko said when asked to comment on Chen’s accusations outside a training event for his incoming city government team in Taipei yesterday. “I would say that some good accomplishments would be the best answer to these questions.”
Ko said that he and his inner circle have chosen from the three finalists endorsed by the selection committee for the cultural affairs role, and that they were not informed of the scores that each candidate received in the committee vote. While professional capacity is a priority, whether a person would work well with others in the administrative team is also a key factor in selection, he added.
Photo: CNA
Ko appeared to take a harsher stance with the future city officials during the training session.
He said that, though some of the former selection committee members asked him to reconsider some appointments: “I am a very determined person, and since the appointments have been announced, I will not make any changes.”
“These past few days, I have been thinking that maybe I should call these very important people [who protested]. I have not done so yet, because I am upset,” Ko said. “I will think about it.”
Ko also reminded the officials-to-be that — to work as a team — everyone must be honest, so that they trust each other.
“Everyone has one chance to lie to me — and that is before I discover that you lie to me,” Ko said. “If I find out that you have lied to me, you are finished. I will never have you on my team again.”
He said that he would always make decisions supported by evidence.
“Do not tell me that you heard someone saying something. I hate that. If you want to convince me of something, show me the statistics and hard evidence,” Ko said.
National Taiwan University (NTU) yesterday said it disqualified a person from an entrance examination for using AI smart glasses to cheat, along with two others for making untruthful statements in their curriculum vitae. The three applicants were given null scores, Taiwan’s highest-ranked university said, calling on prospective students to be honest in the admissions process. NTU registrar Lee Hung-sen (李宏森) said that the cheating applicant wore a hat and thick-rimmed glasses to the second written exam for medical school, claiming that they felt cold. Suspicions were aroused when the applicant stared oddly at the test for long stretches while steadily bringing the paper
MILITARY ISSUES: A partisan divide between the Cabinet and the legislature ‘raised questions about Taiwan’s ability to adequately fund its defense,’ the report said Taiwan’s defense budget, military personnel numbers and resilience are challenges to its ability to meet national defense goals, the US Naval Institute said in a report published on Tuesday. In response to the perception of a growing military threat posed by China, Taiwan has embarked on an effort to enhance the capabilities needed to deter an attempt by Beijing to annex the nation by force, the institute said in the US Congressional Research Service report, titled Taiwan: Defense and Military Issues, which was filed on Thursday last week. Taiwan’s defense budget increased by about 7.5 percent from 2024 to last year, it
NOT JUST NUMBERS: What matters to intelligence work is crucial, reliable information, so even a few credible leads can be highly valuable to national security, a legislator said The National Security Bureau (NSB) yesterday said it has finished the establishment of an information-reporting channel for Chinese nationals, the aim of which is to broaden intelligence gathering on China’s political, military, economic and social developments. Chinese nationals can submit information on the Web page, https://report.nsb.gov.tw, the NSB said in a statement. The move aims to expand the bureau’s diverse intelligence sources and is pursuant to the National Intelligence Services Act (國家情報工作法), it said, adding that it referenced practices adopted by intelligence agencies in the US, the UK and Israel. An increasing number of people are approaching Taiwanese agencies to provide information, as
66 FIGHTER JETS: The aircraft is likely undergoing preparations for its transfer to Taiwan — a significant step forward in the nation’s modernization program, a lawmaker said The first of Taiwan’s order of F-16V Block 70 aircraft has been sighted in Texas ahead of delivery, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Wang Ting-yu (王定宇) said. Taiwan’s first F-16V Block 70 two-seat aircraft, tail number 6831, was seen flying from Lockheed Martin’s production facility in Greenville, South Carolina, to Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Fort Worth in Texas, Wang wrote on Facebook yesterday. The plane is likely undergoing preparations for its transfer to Taiwan, marking a significant step forward in the Republic of China Air Force’s modernization program, Wang said, citing military analysts. The F-16V Block 70 is a new-build version
RSS