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Mr. Clean says he has no regrets

By Jimmy Chuang
STAFF REPORTER
Monday, Jan 26, 2004, Page 2

Minister of Justice Chen Ding-nan, left, and an aide select characters from a calligraphy book for a new signboard for the ministry's offices last week. PHOTO: GEORGE TSORNG, TAIPEI TIMES

Taipei Times: Did you ever think you would hold a job in the legal field?

Chen Ding-nan (陳定南): Becoming a judicial official has always been my dream and that was why my priority for the Joint College Entrance Exam was to attend National Taiwan University's (NTU) Law Department. This dream continued until I finished my compulsory military service.

The reason why I did not keep following this dream to become a judicial official was because I felt no future in this field when I was doing my military service. People believed "money talks" and this also applied to justice. So I decided to quit pursuing my dream job.

After college, for 14 years I worked as an account executive of an advertising agency, an assistant supervisor of Nan Ya Plastics Corp, a sales manager at a shoe manufacturer and exporter and a chief executive officer of a shoe trading company.

However, the infamous Kaohsiung Incident and the murder of former Democratic Progress Party (DPP) chairman Lin I-hsiung's (林義雄) mother and twin daughters 23 years ago inspired me to devote myself to politics.

TT: Why did the Kaohsiung Incident and the murder of Lin's mother and twin daughters inspire you?

Chen: It's a long story. I was very active in all kinds of student activities ever since I was a kid. Especially when I was in college, my friends all said that I was a natural born politician and I would become one sooner or later.

However, just as I said, I did not join the national exam for prosecutors, judges or lawyers because I felt so disappointed with Taiwan's justice system. I decided to enter business and that occupied 14 years of my career.

When the Kaohsiung Incident took place in 1979, I suddenly felt so ashamed of myself. So many participants in the incident were my old friends. For example, current Examination Yuan President Yao Chia-wen (姚嘉文) was my college buddy. We were in the same grade and we used to be close friends. Lin was my senior school mate in both high school and college and also came from Ilan, like me. Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) was one year younger than me in college. After the incident took place, I felt so sorry for myself because I had devoted myself to my own business instead of doing something for my motherland.

All my friends were dedicating themselves to the land while I was busy making money for 14 years. I felt so bad and ashamed of it.

A few months later, when I read the newspaper and learned of the murder of Lin's mother and his daughters, that sorry feeling of mine became even stronger.

I took some money to Lin's residence and hoped that I could do something to help.

I felt so disappointed with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government because of these two incidents and decided that it was time for me to do something.

My first step to get hooked up with my tang wai (outside the party, 黨外) comrades in the political field was to help Yao's wife, Chou Ching-yu (周清玉), and current Control Yuan member Huang Huang-hsiung (黃煌雄) campaign for national assembly and legislative seats at the end of 1980.

In the 80s, tang wai meant those politicians who were not KMT members because the KMT was the only legal party then.

Yao and Chou had been dating since college. Since Yao and I were college buddies, I knew Chou very well, too.

Chou was actually having a difficult campaign because she did not have any back-up resources.

Chou graduated from NTU's Sociology Department. Back in that era, sociology graduates had no decent job opportunities in Taiwan so most of them decided to pursue another degree in a foreign country. However, that became the reason Chou could not get much help from her college friends as most other candidates did.

In addition to the help and sponsorship from Taiwan's Presbyterian Church, former DPP legislator Lin Cheng-chieh (林正杰) and writer Lin Shih-yu (林世煜), I tried to take advantage of my own connections to help her as well. What I did was collect as much money as possible and give it to her.

When I joined Chou's campaign, her partners did not trust me because I was a businessman. In that era, most businessmen were pro-KMT because they needed the KMT government's help for their businesses. As a result, I was regarded as a spy for the KMT until Chou explained my relationship with her and her husband.

After these two elections, my tang wai comrades began to organize for the 1981 Ilan County commissioner and Taiwan Provincial Council elections. In Ilan, the KMT and tang wai were competing for the two seats to the Taiwan Provincial Council.

Usually, tang wai occupied one of the two seats, and this seat in the Taiwan Provincial Council representing Ilan was always occupied by an NTU alumnus.

The NTU alumni from its law department and politics department gave the public the impression that they could do well in campaigns. After helping Chou and Huang in their campaigns, my tang wai friends encouraged me to run in the Taiwan Provincial Council election.

Finally, we decided that Yu Shyi-kun, the current premier, would run in the council election and I would run in the commissioner election. Luckily, both of us won and that was how it started.

TT: Have you ever regretted what you have done?

Chen: Never. The reason why I never have regrets is that I always do my best no matter what I am doing. As a result, I never felt sorry for what I have done.

TT: How do you look at critics?

Chen: You cannot ask people not to criticize you. If I am attacked politically on purpose, I will try to explain as much as possible if there is a chance.

I am proud to say that I earned a great reputation in Ilan throughout my eight years as a commissioner there. I have vowed that if I ever embezzle anything, I will give away a reward of the same amount as the embezzlement to whoever said that I am corrupt.

There was a conversation between a critic of mine and one of my vote captains. This critic said, "How can it be possible that a commissioner did not embezzle any money?" His statement did hurt my feelings but his statement also reflected the incorrect attitude that most Taiwanese people have.

Under this kind of circumstance, regarding those false accusations and political attacks, I was angry sometimes but I could not do anything.

TT: Do you consider yourself a person who always asks for perfection?

Chen: I am a person who asks for details when going through work once major directions are decided. I think that is what a superior officer's job is, to make sure that everything is on the right track under his command.

For instance, when I was a commissioner in Ilan, I always visited construction sites randomly so workers would not dare to jerry-build. For me, I was merely doing my job.

Although I am the justice minister, that does not mean I have authority over everything because everybody has his own job to do and that is how the system works.

TT: What is the biggest challenge that you have ever had?

Chen: Seriously, I've never had one. I think that is because of my personality.

For me, answers to everything will only be yes or no. I am a man of justice. There is no "maybe" in my dictionary. As a result, no matter what I am doing, I always ask for perfection no matter how difficult it is.

TT: What are the priorities for the Ministry of Justice? What are the difficulties you face?

Chen: Our priorities are to crack down on the mafia, bribery, corruption and normal crime.

In Taiwan, many gangsters take advantage of elections to become lawmakers or councilors to enjoy immunity from prosecution. After they are elected, these people then take advantage of their prerogatives to embezzle more.

This is unique in Taiwan and it also increases the difficulties for law enforcement officers to do their jobs.

In addition, we are also suffering from serious manpower shortages at prosecutors' offices, especially when the amended Code of Criminal Procedure (刑事訴訟法) became effective on Sept. 1 last year, in addition to their regular work, prosecutors are also required to attend arraignments. Under this circumstance, we need more prosecutors.

We need to have more than 2,400 prosecutors in Taiwan, but actually we only have 850 now.

We are hoping that more of those who passed the national exam to become judicial officials last fall will join the force. However, we have to wait for another year for them to complete all the necessary training courses.

TT: What do you usually do during your leisure time?

Chen: I enjoy reading. Reading takes up most of my time. I love going to the movies as well. Also, I love to go back to Ilan for hiking on the weekends.

TT: Do you have any career plans?

Chen: I never thought about it, honestly. Throughout my life, I only planned for my own career twice. The first time was when I was in my third year in high school, when I decided to go to NTU and study law. The second time was when I decided to give up law during my military service and go into business instead. Other than these, I always focused and did my best on my current jobs. That is my policy, too.
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