Ko explains why he is losing fans

By Lee I-chia / Staff reporter





Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) yesterday said that the number of “likes” on his official Facebook page dropped by about 100,000 in the past 18 days because he had formed a political party, although people expect him to be “pure.”

The number of likes on his page fell from 2,127,744 on Aug. 1 to 2,029,956 yesterday afternoon, and the number of likes on his wife Peggy Chen’s (陳佩琪) Facebook page has also rapidly dropped.

Last month, a public event was created on Facebook encouraging people to “unlike” Ko’s official page to show their dissatisfaction with the mayor’s recent performance.

Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je is questioned by reporters in Taipei City Hall yesterday. Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times

There is speculation that the number of likes on their pages dropped because the couple have both used the term “1450,” referring to netizens who have criticized them on their pages as people who have been paid by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) to disparage them.

Ko said that the rapid decline of supporters on his page is mainly because he formed a political party, as many people had backed him because they disliked the pan-blue and pan-green camps, “but under the current constitutional framework, you cannot have legislators-at-large if you do not have a political party, so there are practical difficulties.”

“If I lose some supporters because of this reason, there is nothing I can do about it,” he said.

Ko said that his likely cooperation with Hon Hai Precision Industry Co founder Terry Gou (郭台銘) and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) in next year’s presidential election could also be a factor.

Although his supporters expect him to be pure and innocent, sometimes in politics a person has to join forces with the greatest power and deal with practical issues, so not everything he does will please them, Ko said.

Meanwhile, after Want Want China Times Group chairman Tsai Eng-meng (蔡衍明) on Saturday said that he had met with Ko more than 10 times, Internet fitness celebrity Holger Chen (陳之漢) on Sunday said he was disappointed with Ko.

“Ko’s score in my heart has dropped from 100 points to less than 60 points,” he said.

Holger Chen had said he was a Ko fan and supported the mayor by inviting him to a live broadcast twice and praising him.

In June, Holger Chen helped organize a rally in Taipei against so-called “red” media, including the Want Want China Times Group.

The beefy e-lebrity said that he cannot understand Ko’s behavior anymore, which is like “a slap in the face” to long-term Ko supporters such as himself, who also want to protect Taiwan’s sovereignty.

He urged Ko not to remain ambiguous regarding whether he is pro-unification or pro-independence.

In response, Ko yesterday said that people should not overthink things, because he ate a meal with the Shanghai mayor during the annual twin-city forum, but he has his principles and it is not possible to avoid meeting some people.