Mega Holdings Union chairman Wu Shi-che (吳世哲) announced yesterday that he will withdraw his candidacy for director of the Taipei City Government’s Department of Labor to avoid “causing more harm” to independent Taipei mayor-elect Ko Wen-je (柯文哲).
Wu triggered controversy when he announced that he was running for the post, with critics saying that since he was on the committee that would assess candidates’ applications, his candidacy posed a significant conflict of interest.
Wu and Ko’s office explained that he had resigned from the committee as soon as he announced his candidacy, but more controversy arose following the discovery that the Mega Holdings Union chair had previously been indicted for fraud.
Photo: CNA
Fanning the flames were rumors that he had bribed fellow committee members to approve his candidacy.
“I was on the panel of selectors because I have been discussing labor policy with Ko for the past year. I decided to run for director after a lot of people encouraged me to,” Wu told a news conference at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei.
“However, with the media and netizens accusing me of being a player and a referee at the same time, I have decided to withdraw my candidacy to avoid harming Ko’s open-government policy,” Wu said.
Addressing the criticisms against him, Wu said he was only indicted over some minor accounting slipups he made on a financial statement, for which he was given three months’ probation. He denied the bribery allegation outright.
“Ko’s plan is for the public to vote for their own labor department head, and I do not want that plan to be ruined because of me,” he said.
The Wu incident is the latest to mar Ko’s plan for choosing the next director of the labor department, which has been controversial since its inception.
To choose a director, Ko devised an “i-voting” system under which those who want to run for the job can sign up as candidates to be review by a panel of 30 selectors. Of these hopefuls, five finalists are shortlisted for the election.
Anyone who works in Taipei can register to vote online and then vote either online or in person during designated voting hours.
However, since there is no mechanism to check the identity of each registered voter, Ko admitted that, other than “trust,” he has no way to verify if a registered voter really works in Taipei, or to prevent someone from registering more than one voter account.
It was also criticized as “non-transparent” since Ko’s office did not reveal a full list of selection committee members, even though Ko said that transparency and public participation are the core values of the i-voting scheme.
The mayor-elect defended the i-voting system at a separate press conference held to announce the names of the five finalists, saying it is a key step in pushing for a transparent, open government where everyone can participate.
“Given all the trouble and criticism from the media that has ensued since we initiated the process to select a director, sometimes I think that maybe I should just stop it and appoint a director myself to avoid all these troubles,” Ko said.
“However, I ultimately think we should slowly push the nation forward and realize my idea of open government with public participation and transparency. My election is not about me winning the position, rather, it is about reclaiming power and returning it to the public, but it seems that will take some time to do,” he added.
Ko said President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) is often criticized for making decisions and picking officials from a small circle of close friends, and that is why he has decided to do it differently as Taipei mayor.
As for not disclosing the full list of selection committee members, Ko said that some people have their own concerns, while others prefer not to be harassed and he did not want to bring trouble to those who offered to help.
Responding to Wu’s withdrawal, Ko said he “appreciates” Wu’s desire not to harm his reputation or the i-voting process.
Late last night, attorney Chen Ming-cheng (陳明正) followed Wu and also dropped out of the election because of the “vicious electoral culture,” saying that allegations of fraud made against him were not true.
The remaining finalists are: Labor Affairs Council chief secretary Ho Jui-fan (賀瑞蕃), former MSIG Mingtai Insurance Union chairman Huang Cheng-tao (黃政道) and National Chiao Tung University Department of Management Science assistant professor Tseng Fang-tai (曾芳代).
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