Hate crimes threaten to escalate into violence

When Chin Heng-wei (金恆煒), editor-in-chief of Contemporary magazine (當代), returned home last Tuesday morning, he was greeted by shattered eggs outside his apartment and a warning letter in his mailbox. The sender was infuriated with Chin for "selling out Taiwan" and threatened to take action against him.

On the same day, a church in Taoyuan County's Tahsi township (大溪) publicized a threatening letter, which warned the church not to allow former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) to preach there, otherwise violent action would be taken against the church and Lee.

Former president Lee, who is also a former KMT chairman, has recently made some public comments supporting the ruling DPP and criticizing KMT leaders, and even elaborated on ideas of sovereign independence for Taiwan.

The Northern Taiwan Society (台灣北社), a newly-launched organization composed of local scholars with which Chin is affiliated, is considered among the pioneers in theorizing Taiwan independence. Most view these two irrational incidents as vengeful protests from Taiwan's ethnic mainlander minority.

However, prosecutors as well as the police are treating the incidents as ordinary crimes and the government has not responded aggressively. Chang Mau-kuei (張茂桂), a noted researcher at the Institute of Sociology of the Academia Sinica, holds a different view. He cautioned that the series of incidents should be categorized as "hate crimes" (仇恨犯罪), such as those political-motivated crimes associated with religion, race or homosexuality.

"After the DPP's victory in last year's presidential election, ethnic confrontations have been gaining momentum bit by bit," said Chang.

"The year-end elections are a prime opportunity for extremists. If the government does not take this threat seriously and stem this irrational sentiment from spreading before it's too late, there will surely be some large-scale physical violence during the election campaign," he said.

Chang cited the first Taipei mayoral election in 1994 as an example.

During the campaign, the issue of ethnic dignity became very sensitive, and there were several clashes between enthusiastic supporters for candidates of different ethnic origins.

One major incident was a group of drivers from the Chuan Min taxi company (全民車行), at the time strong supporters of DPP candidate Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and the ethnic Taiwanese cause, provoking Jaw Shaw-kung's (趙少康) mainlander supporters from the New Party.

"Chen's victory in that election further exhilarated the pro-independence groups and radical grassroots supporters," Chang said.

But the government did not take the clashes seriously, and shortly after the election the Teh-hui Street (德惠街) Incident took place, when a quarrel between Chuan Min taxi drivers and the mainland gangsters operating the valet parking franchise at a Taipei hotel led to the murder of a driver and subsequent rioting.

"Chin also pointed out that the eggs thrown at his apartment were a warning to him and his group [mainlander Chinese who support Taiwan independence]. But the government should look into what sort of people the perpetrators are."

"The first sort of people are like Shih Li-hsing (史力行), [a disaffected ex-serviceman] who poured red ink on Lee Teng-hui at an event in Tahsi last year. This kind of hate crime is spontaneous and the perpetrator claims responsibility," Chang pointed out.