What does the old expression "bandit lair" mean? It refers to a lair of bandits, where birds of a feather flock together.
The Hualien District Prosecutors' Office employs politicized prosecutors Yang Ta-chih (楊大智) and Lee Tzu-chun (李子春).
Both prosecutors, who fight for the pan-blue camp, are forsaking the neutrality of the judiciary for the sake of campaigning.
The question is whether Hualien is a bona fide pan-blue bandit lair. We can find the answer to that question by looking at the effects of Yang and Lee's actions.
During the Hualien County Commissioner by-election, Yang openly used his prosecutorial powers to help the pan-blue campaign and now, little more than 70 days before the presidential election, Lee is getting involved in the campaign.
He is about to summon President Chen Shui-bian (
The putative reason for this is that Chen, who is the chairman of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), should be aware of the details of You Ying-lung's (
First, will the "policy promise" case hold up?
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Lien Chan (連戰) has made innumerable policy promises -- increasing the subsidy for retired farmers to NT$5,000 per month, abolishing interest on student loans, lowering the interest rate on workers' loans to 2 percent and offering a preferential 18 percent interest rate on half of workers' pensions.
Will prosecutors investigate these promises?
Second, if one insists that policy ideas are equivalent to vote-buying, then what does that have to do with Chen? KMT councilors in the Kaohsiung City Council accepted bribes.
Shouldn't we ask Lien to appear? Has anyone done so?
The talk about using policy promises to buy votes, the unrestrictsed implication of associates and the summoning of the president all began with the Hualien by-election and will end with the presidential election.
The problem is that talking about policy promises as a means of vote-buying is a matter of political attack. But the most serious problem is that Lee is disregarding constitutional regulations by engaging in an unconstitutional political fight. Will the Ministry of Justice stand idly by?
According to Article 52 of the Constitution, "The President shall not, without having been recalled, or having been relieved of his functions, be liable to criminal prosecution unless he is charged with having committed an act of rebellion or treason." So can a prosecutor summon the president to act as a witness?
Of course not. Lin Chi-tung (林紀東), an authority on legal matters who has served as Grand Justice, has delivered an interpretation on the matter. He said, "The president is the nation's leader. It is an elevated position with important powers. If the president at any time can be prosecuted like an ordinary person, it will interfere with [his or her] execution of the position's powers as well as with political stability. During a presidential term, the president shall not be subject to criminal prosecution. The president shall naturally not be subjected to any matters related to criminal prosecution, such as summoning, detention, searches and so on."
Yang and Lee have the word "blue" written across their foreheads. Their words are disgusting and their actions worthy of condemnation. It was already wrong for the Prosecutor General to sit idly by and watch Yang wreaking havoc. Can he turn a blind eye to Lee's violating the Constitution and acting against law and reason?
Chin Heng-wei is editor in chief of Contemporary Monthly.
Translated by Perry Svensson
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