While it might not be surprising that Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) again triggered public criticism with his typhoon day proposal, Ko should realize that his reckless remarks could eventually cost him his political career.
Ko was elected with the highest number of votes for a non-Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) candidate for the Taipei mayoral position and was loved for his unconventional politics, but his support rating has dropped, with complaints increasing over the past year.
Having just returned from a visit to the US, Ko on Friday proposed that people work a makeup day for a typhoon day, saying that an excessive number of typhoon days could damage Taiwan’s economic competitiveness.
The proposal immediately drew public ire, while local government heads across party lines either directly voiced their opposition to the idea, or held a more reserved attitude.
Opponents said that as typhoons are unpredictable, it is not possible for employers and employees alike to plan the work schedule ahead. Sometimes a typhoon day is declared only for students and at other times only for workers, which adds to the complication of having a makeup school day or work day.
Earlier, Ko also faced harsh criticism when he proposed using the electronic toll collection (ETC) system for collecting parking fees in the city, adding that if car owners refused the ETC, they would be charged an additional NT$200 for each parking fee collected in the conventional way. Some city officials said it might be illegal for the city government to exact an extra charge from people who refuse to use the ETC’s eTag stickers.
Prior to his election, Ko said he opposed the ETC.
Some city councilors were concerned about the budget to install eTag scanners at each parking space if the policy is to be implemented, with an estimated cost of between NT$150,000 and NT$200,000 to install just one eTag scanner, saying that the system would waste more money than it would make.
Ko’s proposals are likely to end in failure and he has not been successful with his proposals immediately following his inauguration either.
In January last year, only weeks after his inauguration on Dec. 25, 2014, Ko said that he discovered “five major scandals” from previous city administrations — including the construction of the Taipei Dome, the MeHAS City residential complex, the Syntrend Creative Park (三創園區), the Taipei New Horizon (台北文創) complex and Taipei Twin Towers (台北雙子星) — and said investigations would be completed within two months with concrete results.
However, it has been one year since the deadline and all the cases have stalled, with Ko repeatedly threatening to end the contract for the Taipei Dome’s construction, while the Farglory Group (遠雄集團), the builder of the Taipei Dome, is urging the city government to buy back the project.
Certainly, some people will be disappointed as the mayor — of whom they once had high expectations — has not done much besides talking and making reckless remarks.
According to recent opinion polls conducted by a number of media organizations since the beginning of the year, Ko’s approval rating has gone down from more than 70 percent when he was elected to a little over 65 percent, while some poll results showed his approval rating to be lower than 60 percent.
When meeting with former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) before his election and People First Party Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) after his election, Ko was advised by both to “think well before speaking,” and he himself has said several times that he should do a better job of “controlling his mouth,” but apparently Ko is not following his own advice.
It is often said that “public opinion is like flowing water” — if the mayor does not do a good job on keeping the water flowing, he might soon jeopardize his political career.
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