The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus threw its support yesterday behind President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) for voicing concern on Monday about the judiciary intervening in next year's presidential election.
Calling the president's remarks "impartial" and "objective," DPP whip Wang Tuoh (
"After the DPP came to power [in 2000], Taiwan's judiciary has made major progress and become much more impartial and objective, but a few good-for-nothing prosecutors and judges still embrace very obvious ideology and party preference," Wang said.
"They exploit their judicial authority to attack candidates from the political party they dislike while covering up for other candidates from the party they do like," Wang said, citing the actions of former Kaohsiung prosecutor Lo Chien-hsun (
The DPP has claimed that Lo was behind the leak of an official document to the Chinese-language Next Magazine concerning DPP presidential candidate Frank Hsieh's (謝長廷) alleged involvement in the Kaohsiung Rapid Transit Corp scandal. An investigation into the leak is ongoing.
Last year Lo alleged that Hsieh had accepted large political donations from several construction companies in 2005 when he was Kaohsiung mayor.
Chen raised his concerns during a meeting with former East German prime minister Lothar de Maiziere at the Presidential Office on Monday. Chen said that he was worried that some judges, prosecutors and investigators were attempting to interfere in the presidential poll.
Chen told de Maiziere that he hoped such a situation would not happen here, but he was afraid "it was very difficult."
Chen said it was unfortunate that Taiwan had not followed Germany's example. A reunified Germany found 50 percent of former East German judges unfit to continue in their jobs.
"Taiwan's cultivation and retirement system for judges is very weak," Wang said when asked if Taiwan should follow Germany's example.
"Many prosecutors or judges only know how to take exams and study. They are not sophisticated ... and that may result in unjust cases," he said, urging the judiciary to review its training and personnel system.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers, on the other hand, criticized Chen's remarks. They said the president had slandered judicial personnel and seriously damaged the judiciary's credibility.
KMT Legislator Hsu Shao-ping (
"If [Chen's] accusation is true, his efforts at judicial reform over the past seven years have failed. If it's not, his comments have hurt Taiwan's democracy," Hsu said. "Either way, Chen should be ashamed of himself."
KMT Legislator Alex Fai (費鴻泰) said that Chen's criticism was "inappropriate" because "he has been involved in irregularities."
First lady Wu Shu-jen (
Chen, who as president enjoys constitutional immunity from prosecution, has not been charged.
"It's the first time that the president thrust a hand in the judiciary in such a brazen way. To remove half of the judicial personnel -- those who don't listen to him -- from their positions?" Fai said.
"It's a shame that we have such a president," he said.
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) was sentenced to six months in prison, commutable to a fine, by the New Taipei District Court today for contravening the Personal Data Protection Act (個人資料保護法) in a case linked to an alleged draft-dodging scheme. Wang allegedly paid NT$3.6 million (US$114,380) to an illegal group to help him evade mandatory military service through falsified medical documents, prosecutors said. He transferred the funds to Chen Chih-ming (陳志明), the alleged mastermind of a draft-evasion ring, although he lost contact with him as he was already in detention on fraud charges, they said. Chen is accused of helping a
SECURITY: Starlink owner Elon Musk has taken pro-Beijing positions, and allowing pro-China companies to control Taiwan’s critical infrastructure is risky, a legislator said Starlink was reluctant to offer services in Taiwan because of the nation’s extremely high penetration rates in 4G and 5G services, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said yesterday. The ministry made the comments at a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, which reviewed amendments to Article 36 of the Telecommunications Management Act (電信管理法). Article 36 bans foreigners from holding more than 49 percent of shares in public telecommunications networks, while shares foreigners directly and indirectly hold are also capped at 60 percent of the total, unless specified otherwise by law. The amendments, sponsored by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Ko
UNREASONABLE SURVEILLANCE: A camera targeted on an road by a neighbor captured a man’s habitual unsignaled turn into home, netting him dozens of tickets The Taichung High Administrative Court has canceled all 45 tickets given to a man for failing to use a turn signal while driving, as it considered long-term surveillance of his privacy more problematic than the traffic violations. The man, surnamed Tseng (曾), lives in Changhua County and was reported 45 times within a month for failing to signal while driving when he turned into the alley where his residence is. The reports were filed by his neighbor, who set up security cameras that constantly monitored not only the alley but also the door and yard of Tseng’s house. The surveillance occurred from July
‘SAME OLD TRICK’: Even if Beijing resumes individual travel to Taiwan, it would only benefit Chinese tourism companies, the Economic Democracy Union convener said China’s 10 new “incentives” are “sugar-coated poison,” an official said yesterday, adding that Taiwanese businesses see them clearly for what they are, but that Beijing would inevitably find some local collaborators to try to drums up support. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, made the remark ahead of a news conference the General Chamber of Commerce is to hold today. The event, titled “Industry Perspectives on China’s Recent Pro-Taiwan Policies,” is expected to include representatives from industry associations — such as those in travel, hotels, food and agriculture — to request the government cooperate with China’s new measures, people familiar with
RSS