Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) on Thursday was handcuffed and escorted by police to the Taipei Detention Center, after the Taipei District Court ordered that he be detained and held incommunicado for suspected corruption during his tenure as Taipei mayor.
The ruling reversed an earlier decision by the same court on Monday last week that ordered Ko’s release without bail. That decision was appealed by prosecutors on Wednesday, leading the High Court to conclude that Ko had been “actively involved” in the alleged corruption and it ordered the district court to hold a second detention hearing.
Video clips of Ko being escorted to the detention center were played repeatedly across local Chinese-language media and widely discussed. It has been shocking for many to see Ko’s rapid rise and fall.
Ko, a surgeon and political outsider, was elected mayor of Taipei in 2014, serving two terms. He quickly became a political star as the leader of a “third force” party and a presidential candidate who earned 26.46 percent of votes in this year’s election.
As Ko can be lawfully detained for up to four months while prosecutors continue their investigation, a pressing concern for the TPP is how it can survive this setback, as well as the criminal investigation into its election campaign financial irregularities, without its leader. Since its creation, the party has relied heavily on Ko’s personal charisma.
However, the party has been sending contradictory messages after irregularities were found in its presidential campaign financial reporting and Ko’s alleged illicit involvement in the Core Pacific City project. In a pre-recorded video on Thursday, Ko apologized to supporters for causing “concern.” He said that “the best way to help me is to take good care of yourselves” and to “live each day with purpose and happiness,” seemingly to soothe his supporters’ emotions and discourage radical actions.
However, in an interview with Nikkei Asia hours before being detained again, Ko said the government was attempting to “suppress” opponents and accused most of the judiciary and the media of being political tools. The following day, the TPP said it would “mobilize the entire party” to defend Ko’s innocence.
Framing Ko’s detention as “political persecution” by the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), the TPP set up a Web page called “Democratic Backsliding, Standing with KP [Ko’s nickname]: The Truth Behind the Green Terror.”
The party said that Ko was interrogated for 70 hours in inhumane conditions and accused prosecutors of contravening investigation confidentiality by leaking information to news media. It also alleged that the district court had strategically picked a pro-DPP judge to oversee the second hearing.
The TPP said it would hold public rallies across the country against “abuse of judicial power,” while its legislative caucus would review the Ministry of Justice and the Judicial Yuan’s budget, propose amendments to the Code of Criminal Procedure (刑事訴訟法), and abolish the Control Yuan or cut its budget — actions that appeared to be retaliatory.
The TPP’s central committee said it would not select an interim chairperson, possibly out of fear of an inner power struggle or losing Ko’s supporters. The committee also refused to expel Ko from the party, as it did to legislative candidate Ma Chih-wei (馬治薇) when she was detained in January.
The TPP’s decision to fully support Ko, even if it means bending its core principles of “rationality, pragmatism and science” and “financial discipline,” has shown its determination to blindly entrust the party’s future to Ko’s claims of innocence.
Regardless of whether Ko is convicted, TPP supporters should carefully consider if the party has genuine plans to deliver what it promised them, or if they are being “emotionally kidnapped” to be used as weapons in a power grab against the government.
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