Minister of Justice Chen Ding-nan (
While the attack marked another round of confrontation between the two government bodies, the feud itself highlights an even more important issue -- clarifying the bureau's policies and operations.
The first blow was dealt after the weekly Cabinet meeting yesterday when Chen said, "Covering up has been an overwhelming problem among high-ranking officials of the investigation bureau. And even the chief of the bureau has been involved."
MJIB Director Wang Kuang-ru (
"I hope Chen will spend more than just four hours understanding what the MJIB's duties are all about," Wang told reporters, speaking outside an academic seminar on DNA testing at the bureau.
Such comments are the tip of an iceberg of dissent between the MJIB and the new justice minister.
In an interview with a local radio news program last Saturday, the minister expressed deep frustration with the lack of control over the powerful bureau, which is assigned the duties of intelligence gathering and criminal investigation, but apparently prioritizes the former over the latter.
Since then, Chen has continued publicly criticizing what he labels the overly-centralized leadership of the bureau, suggesting they have abused their authority by covering up specific criminal cases and by assigning the bureau's agents to assist prosecutors' investigations in cherry-picked investigations.
Normally in complicated criminal cases, the prosecutors would ask agents of the MJIB to assist with investigations.
However, agents of the bureau are required to obtain approval from leaders before they can begin to assist with criminal investigations initiated by a prosecutor or launched within the bureau, thus potentially politicizing their duties.
Chen said prosecutors have long complained that the practice cripples investigations and that some of the reported cases would be "killed" halfway through for political reasons.
While reports over the past few days have focused on the sensational side of the confrontation, the minister explained yesterday his concern is how criminal investigations can be carried out effectively and fairly.
"As far as criminal investigation is concerned, it's evidence that talks. It's not something we should allow a haphazardly assigned group of people to have discretion over," Chen said.
Chen's comments have spurred some prosecutors to call on the public to look beyond the ongoing feud between Wang and Chen and reconsider the policies and operations of the MJIB.
"First, we have to figure out whether the centralization of power in the bureau deters criminal investigations from being carried out effectively. And then we need to think carefully about the possibility of dividing the bureau's duties of intelligence, surveillance and criminal investigation," said Chen Jui-jen (
"As long as the bureau continues to carry out intelligence tasks, we feel it's hopeless to talk about cracking down on corruption in the country," Chen said.
The Ministry of Justice and the MJIB have a long history of power wrangling. Two years ago intense infighting broke out between then Justice Minister Liao Cheng-hao (
Following the fight, a large-scale restructuring of the bureau was carried out. Since then, counter-intelligence tasks against domestic and foreign rivals have been prioritized over the bureau's other major duties, including investigation of violent crime, white-collar crime and corruption.
Opposition and reform groups have long requested that the government place the bureau under public scrutiny and transform it into an agency to protect national interests.
Its intelligence role, they think, should be transferred to the National Security Bureau, the country's highest intelligence organ.
They have suggested the bureau should model itself on the FBI, which underwent dramatic changes in the 1990s and has since focused its efforts on criminal investigation and defending national security.
EUROPEAN TARGETS: The planned Munich center would support TSMC’s European customers to design high-performance, energy-efficient chips, an executive said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday said that it plans to launch a new research-and-development (R&D) center in Munich, Germany, next quarter to assist customers with chip design. TSMC Europe president Paul de Bot made the announcement during a technology symposium in Amsterdam on Tuesday, the chipmaker said. The new Munich center would be the firm’s first chip designing center in Europe, it said. The chipmaker has set up a major R&D center at its base of operations in Hsinchu and plans to create a new one in the US to provide services for major US customers,
The Ministry of Transportation and Communications yesterday said that it would redesign the written portion of the driver’s license exam to make it more rigorous. “We hope that the exam can assess drivers’ understanding of traffic rules, particularly those who take the driver’s license test for the first time. In the past, drivers only needed to cram a book of test questions to pass the written exam,” Minister of Transportation and Communications Chen Shih-kai (陳世凱) told a news conference at the Taoyuan Motor Vehicle Office. “In the future, they would not be able to pass the test unless they study traffic regulations
‘A SURVIVAL QUESTION’: US officials have been urging the opposition KMT and TPP not to block defense spending, especially the special defense budget, an official said The US plans to ramp up weapons sales to Taiwan to a level exceeding US President Donald Trump’s first term as part of an effort to deter China as it intensifies military pressure on the nation, two US officials said on condition of anonymity. If US arms sales do accelerate, it could ease worries about the extent of Trump’s commitment to Taiwan. It would also add new friction to the tense US-China relationship. The officials said they expect US approvals for weapons sales to Taiwan over the next four years to surpass those in Trump’s first term, with one of them saying
‘COMING MENACINGLY’: The CDC advised wearing a mask when visiting hospitals or long-term care centers, on public transportation and in crowded indoor venues Hospital visits for COVID-19 last week increased by 113 percent to 41,402, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday, as it encouraged people to wear a mask in three public settings to prevent infection. CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Deputy Director Lee Chia-lin (李佳琳) said weekly hospital visits for COVID-19 have been increasing for seven consecutive weeks, and 102 severe COVID-19 cases and 19 deaths were confirmed last week, both the highest weekly numbers this year. CDC physician Lee Tsung-han (李宗翰) said the youngest person hospitalized due to the disease this year was reported last week, a one-month-old baby, who does not
RSS