The Presidential Office received a letter from jailed former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) last week, office spokesperson Ma Wei-kuo (馬瑋國) confirmed yesterday, but she declined to reveal its contents.
Ma made the remarks in response to a report in yesterday’s edition of Chinese-language Next Magazine, which said that in the letter addressed to President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), Chen termed himself “a man of sin” and “a wrecked person,” and said that he was “in no position to ask to be released from prison.”
The magazine said Chen gave words of encouragement to Ma Ying-jeou, who recently stepped down as KMT chairman after the party’s losses in the Nov. 29 elections, but still faces calls to resign the presidency, saying he did not consider it necessary for Ma Ying-jeou to quit.
The magazine said it had learned that the former president did not think the KMT’s rout in the elections should be attributed to Ma Ying-jeou.
When asked to comment, the Presidential Office said that, as per established practice, the office has handed the letter over to the Ministry of Justice, which is in the process of reviewing Chen’s latest petition for medical parole.
The ministry on Tuesday formed a 15-member team to evaluate Chen’s latest request for medical parole, with seven of the medical experts recommended by the Chen family, as suggested last week by Minister of Justice Luo Ying-shay (羅瑩雪) after the Agency of Corrections rejected Chen’s earlier request for parole.
According to Next Magazine, Luo has instructed the Agency of Corrections to approve Chen’s application for medical parole as long as the team signs off on Chen’s medical condition, which can be expected by the end of the year.
Chen was convicted of corruption and sentenced to 18-and-a-half years prison in 2008.
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and Chen’s supporters have vigorously renewed calls for medical parole on the grounds of his deteriorating physical and mental health after the Nov. 29 nine-in-one elections.
Later yesterday, Chen Shui-bian’s son, Chen Chih-chung (陳致中), responded to the magazine’s report, which he said insinuated that his father admitted guilt and was begging the president to grant him mercy in the letter.
Chen Chih-chung publicized contents of the letter postdated Dec. 8 on Facebook, saying that it “had nothing to do with confessions of sin and begging for mercy.”
“We must solemnly clarify [the report],” he said.
According to Chen Chih-chung’s Facebook post, the letter read: “I did not write the letter to you to ask you to release me. In this place, I am treated like a wrecked person, a man of sin, and in no position to talk.”
Chen Chih-chung said on Facebook that his father said the KMT’s rout in the election did not warrant Ma Ying-jeou’s resignation as president after he had stepped down from his role as KMT chairman because former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) did not resign his KMT chairmanship when the party was defeated in the mayoral and commissioner elections of 1997.
Yesterday evening, after visiting the former president at Taichung Prison, DPP Legislator Wu Yi-chen (吳宜臻) quoted Chen Shui-bian as saying that he often wrote personal letters to Ma Ying-jeou, but he did not apologize nor beg the president to release him.
Wu added that Chen Shui-bian told her that the situation he is in is inferior to a beggar.
According to Wu, in the latest letter to Ma Ying-jeou, Chen Shui-bian encouraged him to respond to people’s demands, citing the examples of former Japanese prime minister Yoshiro Mori and former South Korean president Kim Dae-jung, who both saw their parties continue to rule even after their approval ratings had dropped to less than 10 percent, Wu said.
SPACE VETERAN: Kjell N. Lindgren, who helps lead NASA’s human spaceflight missions, has been on two expeditions on the ISS and has spent 311 days in space Taiwan-born US astronaut Kjell N. Lindgren is to visit Taiwan to promote technological partnerships through one of the programs organized by the US for its 250th national anniversary. Lindgren would be in Taiwan from Tuesday to Saturday next week as part of the US Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs’ US Speaker Program, organized to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) said in a statement yesterday. Lindgren plans to engage with key leaders across the nation “to advance cutting-edge technological partnerships and inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers,”
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
A Japan Self-Defense Forces vessel entered the Taiwan Strait yesterday, Japanese media reported. After passing through the Taiwan Strait, the Ikazuchi was to proceed to the South China Sea to take part in a joint military exercise with the US and the Philippines, the reports said. Japan Self-Defense Force vessels were first reported to have passed through the strait in September, 2024, with two further transits taking place in February and June last year, the Asahi Shimbun reported. Yesterday’s transit also marked the first time since Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi took office that a Japanese warship has been sent through the Taiwan
ANOTHER OPTION: The 13-year-old, whose residency status was revoked for holding a Chinese passport, could still apply for residency on humanitarian grounds, the government said The Executive Yuan has rejected an appeal from a 13-year-old Chinese student surnamed Lu (陸), whose permanent residency was revoked after immigration officers discovered he held a Chinese passport. Lu in December 2023 applied to settle in Taiwan to be with his mother, surnamed Lin (林), who is a Taiwan resident, an appeal decision released this month by the Executive Yuan showed. Lin settled in Taiwan after marrying a Taiwanese man in 2003, but the two divorced in 2011, and after marrying a Chinese man, she had Lu, the Executive Yuan’s appeals committee said. Lu’s application was approved in December 2024, and in
RSS