Outgoing Control Yuan member Chen Shih-meng (陳師孟) visited former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), prompting speculation about their plans and coinciding with the release yesterday of an online poll showing support for investigating misconduct and abuse of power in the justice system.
The former president yesterday posted a photograph on Facebook showing him and Chen Shih-meng sitting and smiling while holding Chen Shui-bian’s book published in May last year, with the message: “Pushing to uphold judicial reform, but the wings were clipped before taking flight.”
The post was believed to be a reference to Chen Shih-meng’s resignation last week from the Control Yuan after encountering opposition for attempting to investigate “dinosaur judges” for allegedly issuing politically biased rulings.
Chen Shih-meng, who also spoke out about political figures obstructing judicial reform and protecting judges from scrutiny, is to leave office at the end of the month.
The meeting led to speculation that Chen Shih-meng was working to consolidate “deep green” groups and supporters of the former president after the Taiwan Action Party Alliance was disbanded when it received only 1.02 percent of party votes in the Jan. 11 legislative elections.
Others have said that Chen Shih-meng might attempt to restart the civic group Friends of Beanstalk Association, which he cofounded in 2009, when the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) controlled the central government.
A poll conducted by local online media outlet ETToday found that 46.7 percent of respondents agree that the Control Yuan should have the power for checks and balances against the judiciary to prevent the justice system from becoming dictatorial.
The poll also found that 67.5 percent of respondents believed that Taiwan’s justice system does not have judicial independence.
A total of 67.2 percent of respondents said they believe that President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) efforts toward judicial reform have made no progress, while about 20 percent said that they believe her efforts have made progress.
The poll, conducted on Tuesday and Wednesday, collected 1,492 valid samples through mobile phone text messages, ETToday 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,”
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