The trend of Taiwanese being “toyed with” and “bullied” into an “obedient people” was reversed by the rout the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) suffered in the November 2014 nine-in-one elections, Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) said.
Ko made the remarks on Sunday during a lecture at the Ketagalan Institute, which was founded by former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) in 2003 to nurture a new generation of politically adept professionals.
“I have performed genetic research, and personality is related to DNA. In animal experiments, when tame dogs are mated with other tame dogs, the resulting offspring were ever tamer,” Ko said.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
“From the anti-Dutch rebellion led by Kuo Huai-yi (郭懷一) to rebellions during the Qing Dynasty and the Japanese colonial era, Taiwanese have stubbornly resisted colonial authorities, but in every revolt they were caught and culled, resulting in all the brave being killed, leaving only obedient people,” Ko said. “I am a mutated specimen; at least that is what I say to console myself.”
However, the 2014 elections “changed the story, as the nation began to recover its confidence,” Ko said.
Ko, the former director of National Taiwan University Hospital’s (NTUH) Department of Traumatology, said he left the hospital to run for Taipei mayor in 2014 because he wanted to “call young people into action” and “defeat the party-state system.”
“Taiwan’s confidence as a maritime nation must now be rediscovered,” because 400 years ago Taiwanese were pirates and brave immigrants, which in theory should have “suffused their bloodlines with the entrepreneurial spirit,” Ko said.
Ko said that during the mayoral race, he campaigned on a bicycle, and since taking office in December 2014 he has repeatedly taken on “difficult challenges and dared to do what has never been done in order to bring back confidence at a subconscious level” for Taiwanese.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
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