During a speech at the National Industrial Development Conference on Thursday last week, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) articulated his thoughts regarding the third and fourth phase expansions of the Central Taiwan Science Park, work on which has been halted by the administrative court. The main gist of his speech was that we must find a way for economic development and environmental protection to co-exist.
Taiwan is a small country that is dependent on economic development, he said, while conceding that the environment also needs protecting. He then said that, according to Article 117 of the Administrative Procedure Act (行政程序法) and Article 198 of the Administrative Appeals Act (行政訴訟法), the government is obliged to make sure companies do not lose out as a result of decisions made based on information provided by the government at the time a project, like the industrial park, is being developed. The government’s own position, therefore, was that work on the Central Taiwan Science Park should not be suspended.
Ma clearly decided it was high time he got involved, taking it upon himself to comment on a case still being reviewed by the Supreme Administrative Court and reminding the court of the need to take into consideration the government’s obligations to manufacturers.
I could not believe what I was hearing. Even before last month’s corruption scandal involving several members of the judiciary, we had, on more than one occasion, communicated to Ma the urgent need for reform. We also stressed the need for this initiative to come from the president. The draft judges’ act, for example, which will establish an oversight mechanism for judges, has been mired in the legislative process for a long time now and still has not been passed.
Judicial reform is not just a matter for the Judicial Yuan, it also involves the Executive, Control Yuan and Examination Yuan. According to Article 44 of the Constitution, the president’s role, should any dispute arise between two or more branches of government, is to bring together the officials responsible and get them to come to an agreement.
In this instance, we were not asking anything out of the ordinary, just that Ma do his job and get all of the departments responsible together so we could get judicial reform under way. We also wanted him to establish a special judicial reform commission at the Presidential Office, which we envisaged as a platform on which judicial reform could be debated and policy created and implemented.
These suggestions were made six months ago, but the president responded that he did not wish to give the public the impression he was meddling in the judiciary. Although Ma said he fully supported the idea of judicial reform, he said he was reluctant to come across as heavy-handed, and so did not feel it was appropriate to establish such a commission in the Presidential Office.
Many felt Ma was being excessively conservative; others failed to understand what the recommendations had to do with meddling in the judiciary. Even so, he is the president, so what could we do? What he says goes.
That said, many people jumped at Ma’s invoking specific laws in his support of the development of the science park. It is not the president’s place to get involved with a case currently under review, as to do so clearly constitutes interference in the judicial process. The president should give the reviewing judges ample space to make their own decision. The Presidential Office, however, was quick to clarify that Ma was not criticizing the court’s decision, nor was he trying to direct the court, so his words should not be interpreted as judicial interference.
Perhaps, as the Presidential Office said, Ma’s words were indeed meant as a disinterested presentation of the facts, devoid of any desire to interfere with judicial proceedings. However, we all know how difficult it is to maintain the independence of the judiciary. In this context, whether the president’s words or actions have any influence is up for discussion, but the mere possibility that they do means this kind of thing ought to be avoided as much as possible.
First, Ma talks of his reservations about pushing judicial reform, then he invokes specific legal clauses to make his case for supporting the development of the science park. Perhaps somebody could point out to me exactly where he draws the line between interfering with the judiciary and leaving it alone? What is the point in fretting that embarking on reform could be interpreted as interfering, only to comment on particular cases that are currently under review?
We contend that Ma’s words were born of desperation, and not his concerns over what impact the suspension of work on the science park would have on industry.
This time, however, it will take more than clarifications and explanations to put an end to criticisms that Ma is meddling. The best response to these criticisms, especially in the face of the recent corruption scandals that have rocked the judiciary, would be for Ma to be more explicit about his plans for judicial reform, and how he anticipates going about it.
Lin Feng-jeng is a lawyer and executive director of the Judicial Reform Foundation.
TRANSLATED BY PAUL COOPER
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