Prosecute Lo Fu-chu
News of yet another criminal assault taking place among Taiwan's legislators has me feeling sick to my stomach. Viewing the photos of Lo Fu-chu (羅福助) attacking Diane Lee (李慶安) has me so angry I feel like jumping on a plane and going over there to give the little animal a taste of his own medicine.
Many of us are working to build friendship networks for Taiwan and to promote a national image of strength, innovation and courage. We know that a showdown is coming with the Marxists in Beijing, and that our side has to show character, dignity and industry in order to maintain the goodwill and support of the major western democracies. The criminal antics of men such as Lo Fu-chu are causing an incredible amount of damage to Taiwan.
This was a violent assault and Lo must be prosecuted.
Ronald Jack Burnaby
British Columbia, Canada
History will judge
I am a 17-year-old American, and I found your editorial on the recent attack of a legislator by her own peer rather interesting. Though legislators and politicians in America do not generally display the sort of aggression that Lo Fu-chu employed, you were quick to comment that Taiwan is the only country that doesn't hold its elected officials responsible. This is not true. If you closely follow events here in the US, you can see that we do not hold our elected officials responsible either. The most recent example is our former president Bill Clinton. Here was a man who was able to violate nearly every law relating to campaign funding. "What happened?" I hear you ask. Absolutely nothing. I can tell you, if a common citizen were to lie in court, he would be placed in jail immediately. The problem here is that the powerful protect the powerful and those in power are not held responsible for their actions. So, the next time you see a crooked politician who manages to go unpunished, remember this; in the end, history will judge the actions of men.
Brian Pinault Assonet, Massachusetts
Just doing her job
Legislator Diane Lee's misfortune at the hands of Lo Fu-chu does not have to end with a concussion on Lee's part and a light slap on the wrist on Lo's. Instead, other lawmakers should take this atrocity that Lo has perpetrated against a fellow lawmaker as a call to end the silence that allows mafia-linked "legislator/lawmakers" to use the Legislative Yuan as a safehouse and laundromat for their nefarious activities. Diane Lee's open criticism of Lo and his corrupt practices is described as a courageous act by some, but it shouldn't be. In a democracy, lawmakers shouldn't be regarded as "brave" to speak the truth; rather this should be viewed as ordinary and expected. In short, Diane Lee was just doing her job. Lo's potentially fatal blow was not only aimed at Diane Lee, but also at the heads of Taiwan's 23 million citizens and its nascent democracy. Let's hope that Taiwan's latest concussion will jar loose the blood clot that has obstructed Taiwan's democratic consciousness in this area. It is incidents such as these that truly test Taiwan's democratic principles, rather than yearly elections that allow corrupt individuals such as Lo to blithely saunter into legal office. If the Legislative Yuan does not punish Lo with anything short of removal from office, I fear that the next blow may put not only the next legislative victim but the nation at large into a coma. Alice Chu Austin, Texas
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