The Transitional Justice Commission yesterday said it would not investigate or punish people implicated in a controversy over former commission deputy chairman Chang Tien-chin’s (張天欽) alleged plan to target a Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) mayoral candidate in the Nov. 24 local elections.
The commission made the decision at an official meeting in Taipei, where commission members also unanimously passed three measures to avoid similar controversies. They are: reviewing the work schedule for the commission’s important tasks once every two weeks, providing educational training courses to staff members and improving lateral communication within the commission.
Commission member Yang Tsui (楊翠), who doubles as commission spokeswoman, said the body decided not to punish the concerned parties as they have already resigned, adding that removing someone from their post is considered the heaviest punishment an employee can receive.
The commission would not recommend the Mainland Affairs Council discipline former commission secretary-general Hsu Chun-ju (許君如), as she did not intend to spread the remarks Chang made at an unofficial commission meeting that he called on Aug. 24 nor did she give any follow-up instructions, Yang said.
The commission does not plan to subject Chang to a Control Yuan investigation, but it would cooperate with the government watchdog if it launches a probe into the matter, she said.
Commission Chairman Huang Huang-hsiung (黃煌雄) has approved the resignations of five of the meeting’s six participants, including Chang, after a leaked voice recording of the meeting prompted critics to question the commission’s impartiality, while the KMT called for its dissolution.
The Chinese-language Mirror Media magazine on Sept. 12 published a partial recording of the Aug. 24 meeting, in which Chang allegedly discussed a plan to target KMT New Taipei City mayoral candidate Hou You-yi (侯友宜) through a lustration law.
“It will be a pity if we do not manipulate [public opinion] against Hou,” Chang allegedly said in the meeting, describing him as the “most despicable case in transitional justice.”
Hou headed the Taipei Police Department’s Criminal Investigation Division in its failed attempt to arrest democracy advocate Deng Nan-jung (鄭南榕) at the office of his Freedom Era Weekly magazine in 1989. Deng refused to be taken alive and immolated himself in his office.
Blasting the commission’s decision, KMT Culture and Communications Committee acting director-general Tang Te-ming (唐德明) said the move raised the question whether Chang’s plan to target Hou was ordered by top government leadership.
The KMT would continue to stand with the public to prevent a “new authoritarian government body” from undermining Taiwan’s democratic system, Tang said.
Additional reporting by CNA
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