On Sept. 24, alleged gang members armed with clubs reportedly attacked and injured students outside the National Taiwan University campus in Taipei. However, police and prosecutors may only be able to apply the terms of the Organized Crime Prevention Act (組織犯罪防制條例).
Compared with Japan’s system for combating gangsters and its practical application, Taiwanese laws often mean the authorities have to let the big fish off the hook.
While ministers have voiced their anger over this case, prompting the National Police Agency to launch a crackdown on organized crime groups, it might amount to nothing. As long as the government lacks vision in its policy planning, there can be no hope of drastic change.
In the early 1990s, most Japanese assumed that water and security were given. However, statistics released by the Japanese National Police Agency for that period showed that one out of 10 urban residents had suffered verbal threats or violent intimidation by members of the yakuza.
Gang members employed all kinds of tricks, such as psychological intimidation, harassing people over the telephone or ganging up to threaten them.
Confronted by such tactics, defenseless members of the public and hardworking businesspeople usually found that they had no choice but to pay up.
There were, and still are, various kinds of gangsters. Some, known as keizai goro, or financial racketeers, use clever words to pose as influential financial consultants and then defraud their clients. Some demand protection fees for no good reason or intimidate people by deploying tough-looking “bouncers.” Some miscreants look for opportunities to exaggerate accidents and extort money from those involved.
Another trick is to pester people into purchasing unwanted books, magazines and other items, or force them to pay for unnecessary services.
There are loan sharks who provide high-interest loans and then cause trouble collecting debts. Some gangsters crowd into foreclosure auctions, where they employ threats to extort money or property.
There are “professional shareholders” called sokaiya who specialize in disrupting shareholders’ meetings to extort money from companies. Even if they use methods that do not employ actual or implied violence, they can instill fear in the minds of ordinary people.
However, such acts could not be punished in accordance with conventional legal norms.
The Japanese government needed a way to ensure that victims were not left “sobbing in the dark” or paying their way out of trouble, which would only embolden gangsters and help the yakuza syndicates grow stronger.
In 1991, the Japanese government drew up the Act on the Prevention of Wrongful Acts by Organized Crime Group Members, also known as the “Anti-Yakuza” law or “Anti-Boryokudan” law, which authorizes police to go onto the offensive by preventing designated gangs from committing “wrongful acts,” such as those described above, even if such acts are not actually illegal, and to intervene at the scene of disputes to prevent them from escalating.
The authorities also called upon bar associations and other civic groups to set up philanthropic organizations aimed at teaching victims how to cope with such situations, as well as offering legal advice and other services, so that officials and the general public could work together against gangsterism.
In addition, local governments across Japan have taken steps to exclude yakuza gangs from ordinary social economic activities, thereby reducing the gray area between legal and illegal acts.
Local authorities across Japan have drawn up organized crime exclusion ordinances, which prohibit designated gangs from taking part in construction projects, running businesses and making related transactions.
These ordinances also require shops, restaurants, cafes, bars, nightclubs and other entertainment venues to display notices at their entrances stating that gang members are banned from the premises.
If such establishments are found to have members with a yakuza background, or if it is discovered that gangsters have a role in their management, their operations may be closed down.
Japanese laws are designed to prevent companies and individuals from possible dealings and collusion with gangs, and to use government power to help ordinary people not to fear, foster or get involved with gangsters.
Minister of the Interior Yeh Jiunn-rong (葉俊榮) has called for using the full extent of the law to deal with gangs and National Police Agency Director-General Chen Chia-chin (陳家欽) has said that the ongoing crackdown on organized crime will not end until the gangs are eradicated.
However, if Taiwan fails to establish a comprehensive legal framework like that of Japan to deal with social disturbances stirred up by gangsters, the announcements would be no more than empty words.
Lin Yu-shun is a professor at Central Police University’s Department of Criminal Investigation.
Translated by Julian Clegg
Recently, China launched another diplomatic offensive against Taiwan, improperly linking its “one China principle” with UN General Assembly Resolution 2758 to constrain Taiwan’s diplomatic space. After Taiwan’s presidential election on Jan. 13, China persuaded Nauru to sever diplomatic ties with Taiwan. Nauru cited Resolution 2758 in its declaration of the diplomatic break. Subsequently, during the WHO Executive Board meeting that month, Beijing rallied countries including Venezuela, Zimbabwe, Belarus, Egypt, Nicaragua, Sri Lanka, Laos, Russia, Syria and Pakistan to reiterate the “one China principle” in their statements, and assert that “Resolution 2758 has settled the status of Taiwan” to hinder Taiwan’s
Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s (李顯龍) decision to step down after 19 years and hand power to his deputy, Lawrence Wong (黃循財), on May 15 was expected — though, perhaps, not so soon. Most political analysts had been eyeing an end-of-year handover, to ensure more time for Wong to study and shadow the role, ahead of general elections that must be called by November next year. Wong — who is currently both deputy prime minister and minister of finance — would need a combination of fresh ideas, wisdom and experience as he writes the nation’s next chapter. The world that
The past few months have seen tremendous strides in India’s journey to develop a vibrant semiconductor and electronics ecosystem. The nation’s established prowess in information technology (IT) has earned it much-needed revenue and prestige across the globe. Now, through the convergence of engineering talent, supportive government policies, an expanding market and technologically adaptive entrepreneurship, India is striving to become part of global electronics and semiconductor supply chains. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Vision of “Make in India” and “Design in India” has been the guiding force behind the government’s incentive schemes that span skilling, design, fabrication, assembly, testing and packaging, and
Can US dialogue and cooperation with the communist dictatorship in Beijing help avert a Taiwan Strait crisis? Or is US President Joe Biden playing into Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) hands? With America preoccupied with the wars in Europe and the Middle East, Biden is seeking better relations with Xi’s regime. The goal is to responsibly manage US-China competition and prevent unintended conflict, thereby hoping to create greater space for the two countries to work together in areas where their interests align. The existing wars have already stretched US military resources thin, and the last thing Biden wants is yet another war.