The detention of former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) sparked various reactions from the expatriate community yesterday, with some expressing pessimism on the Taiwanese judiciary’s commitment to impartiality and justice, while others thought justice had finally been served.
The chance for Chen to get a fair trial in the “blue-leaning” system, said Eric Chang (張浩明), an American-born Taiwanese, is as low as a black person had of getting a fair trial at the beginning of the civil rights struggle in the 1960s in the US, he said.
Eric Chang was the protestor who held up a banner and shouted “Taiwan is an independent country, is not part of China” last month during a speech by China’s Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait Vice Chairman Zhang Mingqing (張銘清) at National Tainan University.
Born and raised in Ohio, the doctoral student at National Chengkung University said he believed Chen’s detention was politically motivated and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) was capitalizing on a fragmented Taiwan.
“Fragmentation of Taiwan’s public has always been one of the goals of the KMT and the Chinese Communist Party [CCP]. If Taiwan stays polarized, then it’s easier for the KMT and the CCP to manipulate the Taiwanese public,” he said.
Another Taiwanese born in the US, Andy Chiu, shared Eric Chang’s doubts about the Taiwanese judiciary, but believed Chen might not be as innocent as the pan-green camp was claiming.
“Even though I think Chen has done something illegal, I don’t think Taiwan’s legal system will be fair to him. I think Chen really did some illegal stuff and the KMT is taking advantage of it,” he said.
“I doubt he will get a fair trial because the media and the public have already judged him,” Chiu said.
Georg Blaha, a student from Munich, Germany, described the detainment as “uncalled for.”
“The prosecutors claim that Chen … could tamper with evidence if he remains free. With that argument, they could have detained [him] a long time ago and not at this peculiar stage,” he said, pointing out that President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) remained a free man when he was indicted on corruption charges during his stint as the Taipei mayor even though he was in the “most favorable of positions to tamper with evidence.”
Others, however, viewed Chen’s detainment as justified.
“Obviously the prosecutors have clear evidence that indicated that not everything was straightforward with the way he moved the money around” said Victoria Wang (王維君), a Spanish-born banker.
“I don’t understand why people say it’s a political issue. Taiwan is beyond that,” she said.
American Paul Chen said even though he questioned the level of independence of Taiwan’s judicial system, he was “happy to see Chen handcuffed because hopefully with him behind bars, Taiwan can finally move on to some real issues like the economy and the environment.”
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