Several of President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) national policy advisers yesterday showered Ma with accolades on the eve of his first presidential inauguration, while one criticized former president Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國) for lifting the baojin (報禁) — restrictions that banned the establishment of new newspapers — which he said led to biased reporting that failed to do Ma justice.
Lee Tsung-chi (李總集) told a news conference in Taipei that Ma has implemented many policies that benefited the nation, but he has been misrepresented by “distorted” media coverage.
“No matter how hard he works, people just fault him for anything he does,” Lee said.
Harsh criticism has also compromised government agencies, resulting in low morale among public servants, as well as a lack of determination and focus, he said.
Society has become “decadent” and media outlets are to blame, he said.
However, Chiang is the one who should really be blamed for today’s problems, Lee said, adding that Chiang’s “biggest mistake” was to end the restrictions on newspapers.
Ma’s cross-strait policies are “sensible” and served to uphold Taiwan’s dignity, set aside disputes and further talks between Taiwan and China, Lee said.
The president’s approach to the cross-strait relationship has come into fruition and Ma has achieved “unequalled accomplishments” for Taiwan, which have earned heartfelt respect and support both domestically and internationally, Lee said.
The adviser said that Ma exudes an air of “quiet dominance” for insisting on doing the things he believes to be right.
Adviser Hsu Wun-pin (許文彬) highlighted Ma’s promotion of judicial human rights, citing the release of former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) on medical parole from Taichung Prison on Jan. 5 because of Chen’s deteriorating health.
The Taipei District Court also recently decided to halt another criminal trial that Chen was facing because of his illness, Hsu said.
Ma should review the spirit of the Act of Courtesy for Former Presidents and Vice Presidents (卸任總統副總統禮遇條例) and consider granting Chen a special pardon, he said.
However, a Presidential Office source said that Ma insists upon the rule of law, and “would not interfere in individual judicial cases, especially since special pardons can only be granted after cases are final.”
There are still four criminal cases pending against Chen, the source said.
The former president was sentenced to 20 years in prison and fined NT$250 million (US$8.16 million at current exchange rates) in a series of corruption cases that were launched after he left office.
He was detained in November 2008 before being put on trial and began serving the first of his sentences on Nov. 11, 2010.
His one-month medical parole was renewed for three months and then again until the beginning of August.
FLU SEASON: Twenty-six severe cases were reported from Tuesday last week to Monday, including a seven-year-old girl diagnosed with influenza-associated encephalopathy Nearly 140,000 people sought medical assistance for diarrhea last week, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said on Tuesday. From April 7 to Saturday last week, 139,848 people sought medical help for diarrhea-related illness, a 15.7 percent increase from last week’s 120,868 reports, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Deputy Director Lee Chia-lin (李佳琳) said. The number of people who reported diarrhea-related illness last week was the fourth highest in the same time period over the past decade, Lee said. Over the past four weeks, 203 mass illness cases had been reported, nearly four times higher than the 54 cases documented in the same period
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
Heat advisories were in effect for nine administrative regions yesterday afternoon as warm southwesterly winds pushed temperatures above 38°C in parts of southern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 3:30pm yesterday, Tainan’s Yujing District (玉井) had recorded the day’s highest temperature of 39.7°C, though the measurement will not be included in Taiwan’s official heat records since Yujing is an automatic rather than manually operated weather station, the CWA said. Highs recorded in other areas were 38.7°C in Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門), 38.2°C in Chiayi City and 38.1°C in Pingtung’s Sandimen Township (三地門), CWA data showed. The spell of scorching
UNAWARE: Many people sit for long hours every day and eat unhealthy foods, putting them at greater risk of developing one of the ‘three highs,’ an expert said More than 30 percent of adults aged 40 or older who underwent a government-funded health exam were unaware they had at least one of the “three highs” — high blood pressure, high blood lipids or high blood sugar, the Health Promotion Administration (HPA) said yesterday. Among adults aged 40 or older who said they did not have any of the “three highs” before taking the health exam, more than 30 percent were found to have at least one of them, Adult Preventive Health Examination Service data from 2022 showed. People with long-term medical conditions such as hypertension or diabetes usually do not