Independent Taipei mayoral candidate Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) yesterday said he does not care if he is called a bastard — however, he added that he does think it hurtful that former vice president Lien Chan (連戰) criticized Taiwanese who had to go through the “Japanizing” education system during the Japanese colonial period.
“I’ve always considered what Lien says political lingo meant for the election, so I don’t care if he calls me a ‘bastard,’” Ko said in response to media queries for comments on remarks the former vice president made on Friday evening, in which he apologized for having used the word “bastard” (混蛋) in public, saying it had not been directed at a specific person.
“However, I think his criticism of ‘Japanization’ (皇民化) has seriously hurt many people — my father has not said anything about it, but I know he feels extremely hurt,” Ko added.
Lien made the comments regarding Japanese colonialism on Monday at a meeting held by the Alliance of Anti-Independence Chinese. At the meeting, he unleashed a torrent of abuse against Ko — the main rival of his son, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Taipei mayoral candidate Sean Lien (連勝文), in Saturday’s election — saying that Ko is the third-generation descendant of a man who served the Japanese colonial government.
“I absolutely cannot stand the thought of having someone whose grandfather changed his surname to a Japanese one during the Japanese colonial era as mayor of Taipei. He [Ko] calls himself a commoner and us the privileged few. What a bastard,” Lien Chan said at the time.
On Friday evening, after learning that Lien Chan had apologized for using the word “bastard,” Ko’s father, Ko Cheng-fa (柯承發), said that as long as everyone respects one another, Lien Chan’s remarks would not be something he would keep thinking about.
Ko’s mother, Ho Jui-ying (何瑞英), said that the insults against her son have been saddening.
Additional reporting by Yu Pei-ju
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