Taipei mayor criticized for sitting on floor of Israel airport to charge phone

[MzKittyKath]

Mayor Ko criticized for presenting poor image of Taipei by sitting on floor of Israel airport to charge phone

 

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) -- Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) is being criticized by other politicians for photo showing him sitting on the floor of an Israeli airport as he charges his mobile phone, while the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is also taking heat for not arranging access to the VIP lounge for the mayor.

 

The photo, posted on Feb. 27, shows Ko casually sitting cross-legged on the floor of Israel's Ben Gurion Airport as he scrolls through and charges his cell phone. The photo was part of a series of images from his five-day trip to Israel, where he met with leaders to discuss ways of fostering new innovative industries in their cities.

 

The post has received 29,000 likes, but has also raised the hackles of some leaders in Taipei. In response, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Taipei City Councilor Wang Shih-cheng (王世堅) on Saturday (March 2) told reporters that Ko was a typical "fake fairy" (å‡ä»™).

 

Wang said Ko was being pretentious, acting as though he was very natural, friendly, and easy-going. He also criticized Ko for not using an outlet closer to a seat and sitting in a chair.

 

"I think such an advanced airport must also have sockets for everyone to use. Those who deliberately do not use them and instead look for a corner to sit on the ground and pretend to be charging their phone are too pretentious, arrogant. It's not the way a naive, natural, plain man would behave," said Wang.

 

 

Ko sitting on floor of Ben Gurion Airport. (Image from Ko Wen-je Facebook page)

 

On a Facebook post uploaded on Friday (March 1), Kuomintang (KMT) Taipei City Councilor Wang Chih-ping (汪志冰) wrote "You say he's honest? Or is he destroying the image of Taipei? Which is it?" In an interview with Apple Daily, Wang said that as the head of the city, Ko should have staff help him recharge his batteries at the airport.

 

"I did not expect him to do that. Would the mayor of Tel Aviv do that?" asked Wang. Wang said she believes that Ko's photo was staged and that he was "acting for Taiwanese to see. It's basically making casual fun, and is actually hypocritical and disgusting."

 

In response to the criticism, Ko yesterday said "Taiwanese society is very fake," but he is a pragmatist. He said that his assistant had a mobile charger, but he felt embarrassed to ask to use it.

 

Ko said it's not in his nature to want to bother his subordinates, so when he found the nearest plug in the airport, he just used it.

 

During a meeting of the Foreign and National Defense Committee in the Legislative Yuan today, DPP lawmaker Lo Chih-cheng (羅致政) inquired about the incident. Lo asked Foreign Minister Joseph Wu (å³é‡—燮) about Ko's situation at the Ben Gurion Airport and whether the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) had sent any ministry personnel to accompany Ko.

 

Liu Bang-zyh (劉邦治), head of the MOFA's Department of West Asian and African Affairs, replied by saying that arrangements were made for both Ko's entry and exit, but it's not clear whether Taiwan's representative to Israel Paul Kuoboug Chang (張國葆) was present at the time. He could only say that in theory, the representative office could have dispatched personnel all the way to the boarding gate, but the airport is divided into many layers, reported Liberty Times.

 

Lo asked if the representative office had arranged a VIP lounge for Ko to rest in, "or if they had invited him to the VIP lounge, but said that he wanted to sit on the floor?" Neither Wu nor Liu were able to answer the questions about the VIP lounge, according to the report.

 

Lo then criticized MOFA for not making the proper arrangements for Ko: "I blame MOFA for its negligence! Can't the representative office arrange for a VIP lounge? Our relationship with Israel is so bad that we cannot arrange a VIP lounge. Must the mayor of the capital sit on the floor?" Lo said that if MOFA did not arrange a VIP room, the representative office in Israel should be punished.

 

Controversial post uploaded by Ko on Feb. 27

 

 

 

source

 

whats wrong with that :/

[moonz]

Not a big deal tbh

[blond jenissi]

I... don't see what's wrong with this ? like at all

[begginforthread]

Lol

[Buttered Sone]

Floor sitting is really comfortable in airports imo. And sometimes it feels awkward to sit up right next to someone for a charger.

[ember]

????

[HoaYo]

What's wrong with sitting on the floor and charging? You expect him to stand up and wait for his phone to charge? Just look at how soft and warm the carpet looks

[Nip&Hip]

I don't see any issue here other than him being in Israel. You can't want politicians to be treated equally and fairly and then criticize them for these very normal and average-person acts.

[Muddy]

What a non issue. Let the man sit wherever he wants.

[versace]

nothing worth being dramatic over actually this makes him seem more personable 

[Specialsnowflakes]

What a non issue. In other country he might get praised and seen as a humble man by doing this.

[#goddamnitkongwee]

DPP and current president gonna lose big time in 2020 elections and still do not know what happens including the media’s.

 

 

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[Jiraishin]

That's the gates, there aren't stands where you can seat and charge there, as far as I remember.

There are stands with seats and chargers inside the airport, before Security. So he didn't have much of a choice there, I'd say.

And by the way, that's very natural in Israel, people seat on floor if they're comfortable, no one gives a damn. The fact he felt comfortable doing that there is no surprise.

[delirium]

"Wang said Ko was being pretentious, acting as though he was very natural, friendly, and easy-going. He also criticized Ko for not using an outlet closer to a seat and sitting in a chair.

 

"I think such an advanced airport must also have sockets for everyone to use. Those who deliberately do not use them and instead look for a corner to sit on the ground and pretend to be charging their phone are too pretentious, arrogant. It's not the way a naive, natural, plain man would behave," said Wang."

 

ah, so they believe that he's a phony and just trying to make himself look good

[hmthissucks]

oook

[male:ko]

LMAO now even being a regular human being is criticized... This generation makes me speechless.

[Truth_hurts]

Edit: A lot of politicians in Taiwan don't like him. The politicans think he's playing both sides. There's always some kind of fake or nonsense news about him. I think one of the reasons why they don't like him is because he's popular among the younger generation. Well it doesn't really matter if they don't like him because a lot of the younger generation in Taipei do and they voted for him.

[lumimochi]

Politically, I don’t know anything about him, but...

 

“Wang said Ko was being pretentious, acting as though he was very natural, friendly, and easy-going. He also criticized Ko for not using an outlet closer to a seat and sitting in a chair.â€

 

“Wang said that as the head of the city, Ko should have staff help him recharge his batteries at the airport.â€

 

What are these complaints? They’re the ones sounding pretentious. Heads so far up their asses tf

 

Edit— added the following bc I thought it was cute.

 

“In response to the criticism, Ko yesterday said "Taiwanese society is very fake," but he is a pragmatist. He said that his assistant had a mobile charger, but he felt embarrassed to ask to use it.

 

Ko said it's not in his nature to want to bother his subordinates, so when he found the nearest plug in the airport, he just used it.â€

[Gyujin]

People will truly flip out about anything...