Wed, Sep 29, 2004 page8

• Editorial: Pan-blues undermine security

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  Disregarding public protests that the March 19 Shooting Truth Investigation Special Committee Statute (三一九槍擊事件真相調查特別委員會條例) is unconstitutional, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and People First Party (PFP) on Monday nominated nine members to a committee investigating the shooting of the president and vice president.

  The committee is now ready to operate starting next Monday, raising fears that the nation may once again be torn by confrontation between the blue and green camps.

  The statute absurdly specifies that the committee will have 17 members drawn from outside the legislature or other government agencies, based on the number of seats the political parties hold in the legislature. All members can instruct prosecutors to search and investigate whoever is suspected or accused of being involved in the shooting. Those who refuse to cooperate shall be given a fine of no less than NT$100,000, and can be fined repeatedly. If the court's final ruling is different from the committee's investigation results, the committee can request a retrial.

  We all know that not even the minister of justice, the public prosecutor general, or even the president of the Judicial Yuan can tell prosecutors or judges how to carry out their investigations, prosecutions or trials. Yet this "special committee" not only enjoys the power to conduct judicial investigations, but also the investigatory powers that constitutionally belong to the government's administrative and monitoring agencies. The committee even has the power to interfere with judicial rulings.

  Faced with this nonsensical law, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the Taiwan Solidarity Union are refusing to participate. As a result, all committee members belong to the pan-blue camp, such as Shih Chi-yang (施啟揚), president of the Judicial Yuan under the KMT regime, and Chai Tsung-chuen (翟宗泉), a former Control Yuan member. Thus the committee members all share the pan-blue camp's political ideology, and its "truth" will be as blue as its membership. It will not be an impartial truth that can be accepted by the people.

  After the presidential election in March, the street demonstrations willfully and arbitrarily stirred up by the pan-blues caused public support to plummet for the pan-blue camp in general and the PFP in particular. Yet the pan-blue camp continues unperturbed, inciting demonstrations against the arms procurement budget with the excuse that they are looking after the public's hard-earned money. They say that the Truth Committee "is a reasonable mechanism that prevents the DPP from blocking the search for the truth." Do they really think that such far-fetched excuses will deceive the people?

  According to reports, funds are already being raised to support prosecutors, other officials and members of the public who are unwilling to be co-opted into this "pan-blue investigation committee." The funds will be used to pay the fines for non-compliance to underline that this pan-blue organization is unconstitutional and absurd. That funds are already being raised for this purpose indicates broad dissatisfaction with the committee, and also highlights the necessity for confrontation between the green and the pan-blue camps.

  The most bewildering aspect of the pan-blue camp's policies is that its opposition to the arms budget will weaken the nation's defensive capability, while its special commission threatens the judicial system and disrupts social order. China can only be delighted by these prospects, so the pan-blue camp seems to be less fighting for truth than seeking the nation's downfall.
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