Ko Chih-en Gives Chen Chi-mai Her Backpack: “Leave Kaohsiung to Me and Travel the World”

Ko Chih-en marked Chen Chi-mai’s final policy report at the Kaohsiung City Council with an unusually personal political message: a yellow travel backpack from her own collection.

Ko, the Kuomintang candidate for Kaohsiung mayor, asked KMT councilors to deliver the backpack to Chen along with a handwritten note. It read, “Mayor Chi-mai, leave Kaohsiung to me, and now it is your turn to travel around the world.”

The KMT caucus called the backpack a graduation gift. Ko had used it during overseas work as an outdoor television host, and she chose it because Chen had reportedly said in several media interviews that he had spent the past few years focused almost entirely on work. After leaving office, he wanted to take time to travel and see the world.

The gift carried two messages at once. It wished Chen a proper long holiday after his term, while also presenting Ko as someone prepared to take over responsibility for Kaohsiung’s next stage of city government. The caucus said an additional surprise had been hidden inside the bag, but Democratic Progressive Party councilors blocked its delivery.

Ko personally supplied the backpack and wrote the note placed inside it. The gesture offered a light farewell to the outgoing mayor, while keeping the coming mayoral contest clearly in view.

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Mayor Chi-mai, leave Kaohsiung to me, and now it is your turn to travel around the world.