DPP finally pays some attention to NCC's flaws

The Cabinet on Monday suspended two National Communications Commission (NCC) members, Wu Chung-chi (吳忠吉) and Liu Kung-chung (劉孔中), for allegedly illegally hiring family members to be their drivers, and has referred the case to the Central Personnel Administration and the Control Yuan for investigation. The Cabinet has also set a time limit for the commission to handle nine major incidents, including two recent incidents in which TVBS broadcast video footage of a gangster making death threats and another in which it falsely accused farmers in southern Taiwan of torturing ducks.

The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has finally toughened up its stance and started wielding its authority. Some pan-blue lawmakers have said that this is a case of squashing a fly with a hammer, but the truth is quite the opposite: This is attacking a monster with a fly-swatter.

The commission's problem is not simply that commissioners have hired family members as chauffeurs. The real problem with this body -- which the Council of Grand Justices has ruled unconstitutional -- is that it thinks it is an all-powerful beast not subject to any regulations. The government created this beast and is powerless to do anything about its lack of professionalism.

The NCC simply has too many things that need changing. Those nine tasks outlined by the Cabinet remain unfinished, yet the commission has time to worry about whether or not the Nintendo Wii game console has been tested and is safe. This is the true definition of squashing a fly with a hammer and is a deviation from the commission's proper duties. Yet there are other more important matters to attend to.

First, a major controversy has surfaced over how much foreign capital controls TVBS. Foreign capital also bid for a majority stake in Taiwan Television when it was up for sale recently. If this problem isn't given due attention, it could open up a back door for foreign capital -- in particular from China -- to create havoc in the media and damage national security.

Second, on the eve of the deadline for party-operated enterprises to withdraw from the media two years ago, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) sold three of its assets: Central Motion Pictures Corp, the China Television Co and the Broadcasting Corp of China. It later sold them again, proving that the first sales, which had aroused suspicion, were indeed fake.

Yet the commission turned a blind eye, which was a politically motivated decision -- just like its treatment of TVBS. Even if the three companies had not been party assets, the NCC would still have been duty-bound to investigate any false sales. But the fact that they were party assets was all the more reason to probe the incident. How can the NCC possibly hope to earn public trust?

Third, as a country that has just emerged from decades of authoritarianism and become a democracy, Taiwan must carry out transitional justice. Redistributing media channels is a part of that process. The commission needs to stop propping up the remnants of an unfair system.

The commission was intended to be an independent organization, but that doesn't mean it should be an unrestrained monster. The most vital component of a democracy is the system of checks and balances.

The government's impotence toward the NCC has created a monster. This has encouraged the pan-blues in the legislature to try to create another monster -- the Central Election Commission. If the DPP fails to stop it and the Council of Grand Justices takes political consideration into account when deciding its constitutionality, Taiwan will cease to be a truly democratic country.

Paul Lin is an independent political commentator.

Translated by Marc Langer