Power corrupts. The fall of Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) is similar to that of Duperrier, the protagonist of The State of Grace by French author Marcel Ayme.
Duperrier, a devout Christian, one day found his head graced with a halo. He was modest at first, believing he was too ordinary to deserve it. He put on a hat whose broad brim exactly covered the halo. When he read the gospels by this divine light at home, he sometimes felt as though he were touched by the wings of angels.
One day, when he went to a funeral, he removed his hat to show his respect. Everyone who saw his halo was shocked and thought he was a reincarnation of Saint Joseph, the legal father of Jesus, worshiping him ever since.
Duperrier became proud to have the halo, believing he deserved it more than any other person. He had been seduced by the sin of pride.
One sin led to another. He became prideful, gluttonous, wrathful, envious, slothful and avaricious. In the end, he devoted himself to lust. He ended up being a procurer and spending his nights in shady hotels counting banknotes.
Ko’s trajectory is similar. Ten years ago, when he was running for Taipei mayor, he vowed to bring change and often mentioned fairness, justice and political conscience.
After being elected, he entered the political circle like a breath of fresh air, projecting a progressive image to the public with much anticipation.
His popularity became his source of pride. Like Duperrier, he acted like a god, with total arrogance and disregard for municipal services and core values.
He saw himself as a future president, devoting himself to political struggles for that end, while performing almost none of his mayoral duties.
Long-term suspension of construction of the Taipei Dome, skyrocketing rents, acute employment difficulties among young people, a widening wealth gap, traffic congestion, the decline of Taipei’s eastern district and a significant community outbreak in Wanhua District (萬華) during the COVID-19 pandemic were all problems during Ko’s time in office, not to even mention his alleged involvement in several corruption cases.
Despite his disappointing performance, he ran for president with the support of “little grasses” (小草) — his young supporters. However, Ko did not seem to cherish political donations from them after losing his bid. The TPP allegedly misreported about NT$20 million (US$626,174), which prompted the Control Yuan to launch an investigation.
Not only did he not revise the accounting errors after the Control Yuan in April returned the report to the TPP to make corrections, but he was also found to have used about NT$43 million from his presidential election subsidy to purchase an office unit near the Legislative Yuan in May.
Ko has lost his credibility and is seen as a hypocrite who pretends to be poor and sincere. Not caring about his image and political prospect, like Duperrier, he used the divine light given by “little grasses” to count banknotes “earned” during his political career in a shady room.
Michael Lin is a retired diplomat, formerly posted in the US.
Translated by Fion Khan
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