No tears for Diane Lee
When someone commits a crime, no one cares if he is a good person. The only thing that matters is whether he is guilty or not. When someone commits a crime, all of that person’s good deeds do not exempt him from accountability.
After reading your thought-provoking report (“Ex-KMT legislator Diane Lee receives two-year sentence,” Feb. 5, page 1), I urge that this convict not receive any sympathy.
When Lee (李慶安) raised the alleged dual citizenship of former Taipei deputy mayor Chen Shih-meng (陳師孟), she was familiar with regulations that public officials are not allowed to hold dual citizenship.
Lee, however, did not reflect on her own status. She hid her dual citizenship and pointed the finger at others. This was intolerable conduct.
Violating regulations and being a good legislator are completely different things. I respect what Lee achieved while serving the public, especially regarding rights for underprivileged women, but this does not grant her the freedom to flaunt the rules. It’s like a capable teacher granting himself or herself the right to physically punish students: The two sets of behavior are incompatible.
When Lee cried in front of the cameras and said she should not return all of the salary she earned during her terms as Taipei City councilor and legislator (“Let me keep my earnings: Diane Lee,” Feb. 7, page 3), her previous actions spoke louder than her present tears.
She should confront the fact that she made a mistake. That would be more convincing than denying she is a fraud.
MANDY CHOU
Taipei
Ma and Obama: similarities
In addition to the sharp contrasts between President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and US President Barack Obama raised in your Feb. 1 editorial, there are striking similarities between the two leaders.
Ma was called “a stupid president” after Typhoon Morakot, and Obama was recently called “a slow learner” after he repeatedly asked Americans not to go to Las Vegas. Taiwanese and Americans want their presidents as smart as Harvard graduates should be.
Ma and Obama have dealt with the economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) and healthcare respectively behind closed doors even though transparency was promised. They don’t care about demonstrations or a Tea Party opposing the bills. They seldom listen to the people. As a result, their political parties suffered major losses in recent elections.
Both always blame previous administrations for the recession and political turmoil. They like to say they have “inherited” a bad situation from their predecessors. Knowing the seriousness of the situation, they still ran for office. Also, Ma has imprisoned his predecessor and Obama has tried to put former CIA officials on trial.
Ma must be pro-communist because he promotes “one China,” while Obama must be socialist since he wants to “spread the wealth.” They want change for the sake of change, even if it makes things worse.
CHARLES HONG
Columbus, Ohio
Relying on the US?
In “Taiwan cannot just rely on the US” (Feb. 10, page 8), Paul Lin asks interesting questions: “Why doesn’t the US claim its founding ideals — freedom, democracy, human rights and rule of law — as its core interests? The US used to offer protection to the KMT dictatorship in decades past, but today, Taiwan has transformed into a democracy. What kind of country would the US be if it sold out Taiwan to China now?”
It is difficult to say whether Lin is being facetious, rhetorical or merely trying to stimulate shame. Perhaps all three.
From its foundation, the US endorsed existing slavery, aggressively embarked on the genocide of native peoples and extended its borders with a brazen land grab from Mexico. Although it fought a vicious civil war against its own citizens allegedly to end slavery, it then failed to protect the civil rights of those freed for 100 years.
World War I, Woodrow Wilson’s war for democracy, did not free European colonial areas in Africa and Asia from colonial bondage. In fact, the US was fighting a major neo-colonialist war against Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia as late as the 1970s and sponsored civil wars in Central America from the 1950s through the 1980s.
Now, freed from Cold War excuses, the US is in an orgy of unrestrained, militaristic adventures, endangering its own fragile “democracy.”
I guess the answer to Lin’s questions about Taiwan relying on its American Big Brother is self-evident. If we are sold out, the US would prove to be the country it has always been. Why expect more?
JOHN HANNA
Taoyuan
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