It is rather ironic and somewhat ridiculous for President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) to cry “political persecution” after the Taipei City Government’s Clean Government Committee recommended reporting him to the Ministry of Justice over accusations that he illegally benefited Farglory Land Development Co in the Taipei Dome construction contract. It would have been more appropriate for Ma to laud the move and express confidence that the judiciary would find him innocent if he thinks he has done nothing wrong.
After digging into the contract signed between Taipei — when Ma was mayor — and Farglory Land Development for a build-operate-transfer project to construct the Taipei Dome, the committee found it questionable that the city government had made concessions to exempt the company from revenue royalties. It is particularly suspicious that — as the committee found — the concessions were made after a meeting between Ma and Farglory chairman Chao Teng-hsiung (趙藤雄).
After the committee on Friday recommended that the ministry launch a probe into the dealings of Ma and former Taipei Department of Finance commissioner Lee Sush-der (李述德), the president expressed “deep regret,” while accusing the city government of political persecution.
It is an out-of-place reaction for a serving president, with his party having a legislative majority, to accuse a local government institution of political persecution, because the committee has discovered something suspicious in an agreement signed between Farglory and the Taipei City Government.
It is usually the dominant political force — Ma and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) in this case — that could impose political persecution on a lesser political force, not the other way around.
Ma’s reaction is also unusual, since, facing similar accusations or investigations in the past, Ma always insisted that he had acted according to the law and has been confident that he would be absolved by the investigations.
So why is Ma so anxious about a probe this time?
Instead of being outraged over the committee’s decision, Ma, as the leader of a democracy, should be proud of the move, because it shows that — less than 30 years since the end of Martial Law — democracy and the rule of law have developed to the point where people do not hesitate to report the nation’s top leader, regardless of the leader’s political affiliation.
According to modern constitutional design, the executive, the legislative and the judicial branches of government are supposed to keep each other in check to avoid a political monopoly. Therefore, it should be normal for the judiciary to launch a probe into the dealings of a political leader if there are concerns over a policy decision.
As president, and having vowed to defend the Constitution, Ma should show respect for the judiciary and promise to cooperate with investigators, instead of acting like a madman and making immature accusations.
As for the public, no matter what the outcome of the probe is, the move should be celebrated as a sign of progress in the nation’s democracy, and as an important step toward breaking the connections between corporates and politicians that cause social injustice and suffering.
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