Political figures — including Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) — yesterday criticized the government for postponing a decision on whether to release former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) on medical parole, while activists protested during a flag-raising ceremony in front of the Presidential Office Building in Taipei.
Hopes were high that Chen, imprisoned for more than six years, would be able to go home on New Year’s Eve after an ad hoc medical assessment team on Tuesday recommended that he be granted medical parole.
However, the Ministry of Justice said on Wednesday that it would wait until Monday to decide. It said that because of traffic problems, relevant documents failed to be delivered on time.
Photo: Chu Pei-hsiung, Taipei Times
“The reason that the ministry gave [for the delay] is not reasonable,” Tsai told reporters after participating in a New Year’s Day flag-raising ceremony in Keelung.
“Although the efficiency of President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) government is something that has long been criticized, the reason that it gave is just non-proportional from a humanitarian point of view,” Tsai said.
“Based on humanitarianism, Ma’s government should accelerate its handling of the former president’s medical parole,” she added.
Ko, a former member of Chen’s medical team, held a similar view.
“The documents could have been sent fax or e-mail in just three seconds,” Ko said at a flag-raising ceremony in front of the Presidential Office Building in Taipei.
What the ministry said “does not sound like a good reason to me,” Ko said.
“My opinion about Chen’s [condition] has been the same from the very beginning: He should be allowed to go home to recuperate,” Ko said. “If the government wants to deal with it, it should deal with it well. It just does not sound like a valid reason.”
DPP Legislator Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲) echoed Ko’s remarks.
While the ministry said that there are too many documents related to Chen’s medical parole, making the files too large to be e-mailed, Kuan said that government documents are not normally e-mailed, but are sent through a special electronic document delivery system.
“Since 2008, the ministry has delivered more than 1 million pages of documents electronically per year — which is three times the number of hard copies it delivers,” Kuan said. “The ministry’s Agency of Corrections was even honored for its management of electronic documents in 2013. Why did it choose the traditional freeway over the electronic freeway in this case?”
In another reaction to the ministry’s move, a group of activists led by the Alliance of Referendum for Taiwan convener Tsay Ting-kuei (蔡丁貴) clashed with police during an attempt to enter the venue of the flag-raising ceremony in Taipei, demanding the former president’s immediate release.
Blocked by officers, Tsay and the other activists sat down and displayed a pro-independence flag.
They left the venue on their own after the ceremony.
Elsewhere, Chen Shui-bian’s son, Chen Chih-chung (陳致中), said he is disappointed with the ministry’s decision and did not know how to explain the situation to his grandmother.
Meanwhile, former vice president Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) was rushed to hospital shortly after 1am yesterday, three days into a hunger strike.
Lu stopped eating at about 4pm on Sunday in Taipei, vowing that she would not eat until Chen is released.
With the news that Chen might be allowed to go home on Wednesday, Lu traveled to Taichung Prison to greet him when he walked out of the prison.
Upon hearing the ministry’s announcement, Lu said she would attend the Taipei flag ceremony.
However, before Lu was able to attend the event, she was rushed to hospital.
Lu’s office said last night that she had ended the hunger strike on doctors’ advice.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique