The Ministry of National Defense and President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) are probably wondering why the death of late army corporal Hung Chung-chiu (洪仲丘) has become perhaps the single most important news event in Taiwan in the past month, ruffling feathers in every part of society and showing no signs of stopping.
One reason it raised a high degree of public attention was because people imagined themselves in one of the roles in Hung’s family — the son who died from institutional injustice, the heartbroken mother whose grief over the loss of a son was almost too much to bear, or the sister who was determined to find the truth behind her brother’s death and hold people accountable.
It is also because the case is the epitome of the current status of Taiwan. The nation has been hit with a credibility crisis, led by an irresponsible government that has a habit of lying to its people and burying its head in the sand and which embarrassed itself with a lack of understanding of human rights. Reckless journalism also harms Taiwan’s credibility.
People called for civil investigators to join the military’s probe into the Hung case because almost no one trusts the military investigators and judges. They have handled numerous unfair investigations and trials.
As the case has progressed, people have found the ministry to be untrustworthy, both the Supreme Military Court’s Prosecutors’ Office and the military officials and units involved in the case.
Ma’s own credibility rating has been hovering around 20 percent and, after reports of many corruption cases, the public has also questioned his administration’s policies as well as the integrity of local governments and officials.
The distrust is based on absurd military comments on the Hung case which were inconsistent with most people’s real-life experiences — millions of male Taiwanese served in the military, and the Ma administration’s advocacy, analysis and explanation for its policies — for example, the cross-strait service trade agreement and its decision to demolish four houses in Miaoli County’s Dapu Borough (大埔). These cases have involved either lies or flawed assessments.
Negligence during the first few days after Hung’s death reflected the ministry’s lack of respect for human rights. Former defense minister Chiang Chung-ling (蔣仲苓) told lawmakers in 1995 that “people die everywhere” when he was questioned over inappropriate discipline cases in the military.
For the military, while Hung’s death was regrettable, his life was just another number in the annual toll. It is the same for the Ma administration, since the four houses in Dapu are among numerous houses that ultimately have to give way to development projects across the country. Protesting university professors and students are dragged away and arrested because they are said to endanger public safety when all they do is chant slogans.
The government has not lived up to its promise of making human rights the foundation of the country because it has not respected and safeguarded people’s right to life, rights of property and right to work.
Unfortunately, when media outlets were doing their best to seek justice for Hung, they also demonized virtually every military person who was involved in the case, which violated the privacy of those officials and their families. Once again, the media tried to provide reporting in the name of justice and public interest, but failed to uphold journalistic values and ethics and the principle of presumed innocence. The practice that attempted to disclose more truths has ended up creating more confusion and inciting irrational debates among the public.
The Hung case will someday come to a close, but if journalistic values are not reviewed and addressed, how can Taiwan mature as a democracy?
In the past month, two important developments are poised to equip Taiwan with expanded capabilities to play foreign policy offense in an age where Taiwan’s diplomatic space is seriously constricted by a hegemonic Beijing. Taiwan Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) led a delegation of Taiwan and US companies to the Philippines to promote trilateral economic cooperation between the three countries. Additionally, in the past two weeks, Taiwan has placed chip export controls on South Africa in an escalating standoff over the placing of its diplomatic mission in Pretoria, causing the South Africans to pause and ask for consultations to resolve
An altercation involving a 73-year-old woman and a younger person broke out on a Taipei MRT train last week, with videos of the incident going viral online, sparking wide discussions about the controversial priority seats and social norms. In the video, the elderly woman, surnamed Tseng (曾), approached a passenger in a priority seat and demanded that she get up, and after she refused, she swung her bag, hitting her on the knees and calves several times. In return, the commuter asked a nearby passenger to hold her bag, stood up and kicked Tseng, causing her to fall backward and
In December 1937, Japanese troops captured Nanjing and unleashed one of the darkest chapters of the 20th century. Over six weeks, hundreds of thousands were slaughtered and women were raped on a scale that still defies comprehension. Across Asia, the Japanese occupation left deep scars. Singapore, Malaya, the Philippines and much of China endured terror, forced labor and massacres. My own grandfather was tortured by the Japanese in Singapore. His wife, traumatized beyond recovery, lived the rest of her life in silence and breakdown. These stories are real, not abstract history. Here is the irony: Mao Zedong (毛澤東) himself once told visiting
When I reminded my 83-year-old mother on Wednesday that it was the 76th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China, she replied: “Yes, it was the day when my family was broken.” That answer captures the paradox of modern China. To most Chinese in mainland China, Oct. 1 is a day of pride — a celebration of national strength, prosperity and global stature. However, on a deeper level, it is also a reminder to many of the families shattered, the freedoms extinguished and the lives sacrificed on the road here. Seventy-six years ago, Chinese Communist leader Mao Zedong (毛澤東)
RSS