Brian Hioeby Brian Hioe
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Photo Credit: Ko Wen-je/Facebook
TAIWAN PEOPLE PARTY CHAIR Ko Wen-je faces up to 28 years and six months in prison, but has since been released on bail. Ko’s release last Friday saw the Taiwan District Court deny a motion by prosecutors to keep Ko behind bars.
But the Taiwan High Court later filed to revoke this move, overruling the Taiwan District Court. As such, though Ko is allowed to remain free, the bail for Ko was increased to 70 million NT from 30 million NT. Ko is also required to wear an electronic ankle bracelet for monitoring and is not allowed to change his address.
It is expected that Ko will use his release to militate against the charges he faces, which largely stem from corruption allegations linked to the Core Pacific City Mall. As such, Ko can be expected to drum up public opinion against the charges, which may have been why prosecutors wanted him to remain in jail. Perceived flip-flops by the courts will be used as ammunition by Ko.
Ko sought to resign from his position as chair of the TPP while in jail, sending a letter to this effect. The TPP still claims that Ko will resign from his potion. But, with his release, Ko will likely resume de facto leadership of the TPP. For its part, the TPP has committed to defending Ko, claiming that there is no truth to the charges against Ko and this is a plot by the DPP. The TPP has begun to lean into calls for a public trial in the interests of transparency.
This reality of the matter, of course, is that there is substantial evidence that has been presented to the public, in terms of files collected from USB drives owned by Ko, chat message logs, and Excel spreadsheets. But diehard Ko supporters may simply disregard this fact in order to claim that Ko is not guilty of any wrongdoing.
In this sense, prosecutors may have to win over members of the public when it comes to persuading them of the veracity of charges against Ko. And some members of the public may simply not believe charges against their political hero, perhaps those inclined to populist post-truth discourse.
To date, prosecutors have released information about the charges against Ko slowly, in order to build up public awareness of what Ko stands of. Given the political sensitivity, this occurs in spite of that confidentiality might have otherwise taken precedence, in that there have sometimes been allegations against prosecutors of leaking information to the media.
But what is further of note is that the TPP has committed itself to defending Ko in insisting that he is not guilty of any charges. That the TPP has taken this stance in itself may not be surprising, seeing as the party’s core identity was built around Ko.
Ko supporters waiting for his release. Photo credit: Ko Wen-je/Facebook
While consisting mostly of politicians who were previously part of pan-Blue political parties, the TPP was formed by Ko in preparation for a presidential run. When the party has stumbled in the past, such as during the TPP’s failed bid to negotiate a joint presidential ticket with the KMT in 2024 presidential elections, such setbacks can sometimes be attributed to Ko’s leadership.
Some TPP politicians faced corruption allegations in the past. This was most prominently the case with former Hsinchu mayor Ann Kao. When Kao was jailed on corruption charges, even if it did make periodic noises about Kao’s innocence, the party largely distanced itself from her. But this would be very different with Ko, seeing as he is the party’s central figure.
Yet the time that Ko spent in detention raised questions as to whether the party would be able to continue without its leader. Evidently not, in that the party has now made its central political platform unconditional defense of Ko.
Seeing as Ko faces more charges, which are not solely linked to the Core Pacific City Mall case, future corruption allegations could further impact the TPP, then. But now, the TPP has effectively tied its political future solely to the career of Ko Wen-je, and his rise and fall.
Ironically, this move may make the TPP more indistinguishable from the KMT. The TPP had already aligned itself with the KMT on controversial legal powers protested by the series of demonstrations known as the Bluebird Movement. With the TPP having increasingly few positions on which it is distinguished from the KMT, with the TPP going to bat in defense of Ko, this means that the TPP will lean more and more into the political narrative that the DPP is conducting a “Green Terror” against its political opponents. The TPP is likely to be seen less as a “light Blue” third party that is less hardline than the KMT if that is the case, further eroding its distinctions from the KMT.