A dark, shadowy unit
It is amazing that the military police entered a private residence and searched without a court-issued warrant — and this is not a movie, but a live true story in a nation that was praised as a model of democracy for electing a female president.
Who has the power to supersede the law? The Military Security Brigade, a military unit not under the supervision of the Ministry of National Defense — they only listen to President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九).
In order to obtain White Terror-era government documents, the brigade dispatched military police to lure out a historical document collector surnamed Wei (魏).
They took the documents and destroyed a historic record; they did not to return them to the government. It is a criminal act to destroy evidence.
Did they not know it was illegal? If so, why did they intentionally violate the law? What are they trying to cover up?
Those documents were evidence of the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) governmental violence after World War II, some related to the 228 Massacre and some related to the White Terror era. They are evidence of war crimes.
This is unfinished Taiwanese business that needs to be rectified.
Democracy is a system of checks and balances. Unfortunately, even Minister of Defense Kao Kuang-chi (高廣圻) does not know who ordered the brigade to execute the search. No wonder New Power Party Legislator Freddy Lim (林昶佐) called it a dark, shadowy unit within the military. It should be abolished.
However, the brigade is not the only dark unit that should be abolished. On Thursday, Chen Shyh-kwei (陳士魁), chairman of the Overseas Community Affairs Council — originally known as the Overseas Chinese Affairs Commission — reported at the Legislative Yuan that there are two type of overseas compatriots, those who migrated from Taiwan and hold Republic of China citizenship and 40 million overseas Chinese who hail from China.
Chen said most are in Southeast Asia, and since Taiwan is lacking talent, the council helps them come to Taiwan to go school, work and become a strategic Taiwanese resource.
However, this is not true.
In the US, the council spends a lot of Taiwanese taxes to help overseas Chinese purchase ethnic centers. Taipei Economic and Cultural Office staff spend most of their business hours attending to those overseas Chinese clubs’ and associations’ activities.
The council competes poorly with China’s Overseas Chinese Affairs Office to favor overseas Chinese, now most of them fly the “Five-star Red Flag.”
In about two months, president-elect Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) is scheduled to take office and run the nation. The key point for Tsai’s government to succeed is to correctly identify Taiwan — are we Taiwanese or Chinese — and to restructure the government. These are urgent steps for her to start her administration.
Of course, building Taiwan is not Tsai’s individual personal business, it is a Taiwanese public affair and needs everyone to chip in and get the job done. Legislators need to pass clear and workable laws and people need to closely watch their performance.
Hopefully, the incoming government can clearly identify the nation, territory and compatriots of Taiwan, abolish the brigade and council and handle transitional justice. Then Taiwan can move on to its next chapter.
John Hsieh
Hayward, California
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