One of the most urgent tasks the nation must attend to after today’s elections is the promotion of “political reconciliation” to bring about social harmony, Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) said yesterday.
Ko made the remark in response to media queries about how he plans to prioritize between two of his feuding allies, Sunflower Movement activist Lin Fei-fan (林飛帆) and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Hsinchu legislative candidate Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘), for whom Ko had supported for several months.
The Chinese-language China Times on Thursday reported that Ker vented his anger over Lin campaigning for his rival, New Power Party Hsinchu legislative candidate Chiu Hsien-chih (邱顯智), who had criticized Ker as being “only good at dealmaking.”
Ker cited the help DPP offered Lin and Sunflower movement activists during their occupation of the Legislative Yuan’s main chamber and his role as a mediator that helped resolve the standoff between the protestors and President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration by subjecting the controversial cross-strait service trade agreement to a review.
Ko said it is unnecessary to “pick sides” when two people disagree with each other and that people should learn to accommodate different views.
“This is something society needs to work on. We should learn to tolerate, accept and appreciate. While it is hard to appreciate someone’s shortcomings, we should at least learn to tolerate and accept them,” the mayor said.
One area where Taipei is more advanced than other municipalities is that fewer ideological conflicts exist between the pan-green and pan-blue camps, which is manifest in Taipei city councilors’ “pragmatic” discussions regarding budget requests submitted by the city government, Ko said.
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