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Ma calls on detainees to start eating

President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday called on several politicians, including former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), to end their hunger strikes.

Chen, taken to a detention center on Wednesday after the Taipei District Court consented to a request by prosecutors earlier that day that he be held incommunicado, has stopped eating food and has only been drinking water. He said his arrest was politically motivated.

Yunlin County Commissioner Su Chih-fen (蘇治芬) and Chiayi County Commissioner Chen Ming-wen (陳明文) have also staged hunger strikes to protest the accusations of corruption against them. Su began a hunger strike after she was arrested on Nov. 4 for allegedly taking a total of NT$21 million (US$635,000) in bribes in two separate cases. Su was released on Friday after being indicted on corruption charges.

Chen Ming-wen was taken into custody on Oct. 28 on suspicion he engaged in graft by leaking confidential information to help a businessman win a tender worth more than NT$650 million.

He has been on a hunger strike since Tuesday.

Making the call during an interview on a radio station in Taichung City, Ma yesterday said the politicians should begin eating normally to maintain their health and energy, which he said was essential for them to be able to face “future challenges.”

Ma said similar situations had occurred before and that the authorities had established a standard procedure to deal with them.

Chen is under investigation for embezzlement, bribe-taking, money laundering and illegally removing classified documents from the Presidential Office.

Lee Da-chu (李大竹), deputy warden of the detention center where the former president is held, said yesterday that Chen has shown signs of nausea and acid reflux vomiting and that physicians would evaluate his condition to decide whether to force him to be fed intravenously.

ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY MO YAN-CHIH
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