Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je finally admitted to telling the truth? In a program on the 29th of last month, he made a startling statement: “Chen Shui-bian’s illness was initially feigned.”
Following the incident, Chen Shui-bian’s private medical team issued a statement: “Ko Wen-je understands neither psychiatry nor neurology. Regarding chronic illnesses he doesn’t know, he only categorizes them as ‘faking illness’ or ‘psychosomatic disorder.’” They also decided to appoint the physician who actually cares for the president as convener and demanded that Ko Wen-je refrain from commenting on the president’s condition in the future.
Ko Wen-je stated that Chen Shui-bian’s illness was initially feigned, but later he became genuinely ill. Although he clarified again in an interview on the 30th, emphasizing that Chen Shui-bian was not physically ill initially but was in a bad mood, the correct term being “psychosomatic disorder”, he believes the media headlines were misleading and took things out of context.
On the 30th, Chen Shui-bian’s civilian medical team issued a statement saying, “Ko Wen-je understands neither psychiatry nor neurology. Regarding chronic illnesses he is unaware of, he only categorizes them as ‘faking illness’ or ‘psychosomatic disorder.’ This isn’t the first time he’s made erroneous statements about the president’s condition, and we expect there will be more in the future. Furthermore, due to his busy schedule with municipal affairs, he hasn’t participated in the medical team’s group discussions about the president’s changing condition. He has been completely unaware of former President Chen’s condition for a long time.”
The Chen Shui-bian civilian medical team announced that they believe Ko Wen-je is no longer suitable to nominally serve as the convener of the civilian medical team. After collective discussion, the medical team decided to appoint the physician who actually cares for the president as the convener, and requested that he refrain from making any further statements regarding the president’s condition, as he is completely unable to grasp the president’s condition.
However, some netizens pointed out that the civilian medical group’s constant focus on Ko Wen-je’s long absence from discussions about the president’s condition raises questions about the doctors’ logical reasoning—are they even less advanced than kindergarteners, or are they trying to salvage Chen Shui-bian’s crumbling, almost sacred image among his supporters with this distorted excuse? Netizens argue that even if Ko Wen-je rarely participates in “condition discussions” now due to his mayoral position, it cannot negate the fact that Ko Wen-je was fully aware of whether Chen Shui-bian was faking illness from the beginning.
Furthermore, some netizens suspect that, given Ko Wen-je’s claims of faking illness, these civilian medical group’s so-called “condition discussions” might be nothing more than a discussion session on faking illness.