Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) reputation was harmed by allegations made by Christina Liu (劉憶如), former head of the Council for Economic Planning and Development, over the Yu Chang Biologics Co [now known as TaiMed] case. The scandal, whipped up by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), caused irrevocable damage to the democratic value of fair elections as well as the nation’s biotechnology industry.
The Taipei District Court ruled that the allegations damaged Tsai’s reputation and ordered Liu to pay Tsai NT$2 million (US$61,630) in compensation, but the result of the 2012 presidential election, which Tsai lost, cannot be reversed. Hence, the public must always remember the KMT’s smear tactics, with which it won the election.
In democracies, political information is available to the public, which enables voters to elect the kind of people they want to see in public office.
When the KMT and President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration made false accusations against Yu Chang and Tsai by falsifying documents, they misled the voters. The KMT has gravely damaged the democratic value of fair elections.
Prior to the 2012 election, the KMT was focusing on the Yu Chang allegation.
By having Liu publish falsified documents and letting then-KMT whip Lin Yi-shih (林益世) hold press conferences, the KMT said that Tsai was seeking personal gain.
KMT legislators went so far as to demean Academia Sinica president Wong Chi-huey (翁啟惠) and world-renown AIDS researcher David Ho (何大一).
The KMT and its affiliates spent a considerable amount of money on advertising to discredit Yu Chang.
During the presidential debate, Ma attacked Tsai with questions about Yu Chang. Evidently, the KMT was willing to harm Taiwan’s biotechnology industry and fair elections to win the presidency.
Tsai held several press conferences, and made dozens of announcements and press releases to reveal the truth, while the KMT pulled out all the stops.
As a result, the public was confused and misguided by false information. After the Special Investigation Division (SID) took the initiative to investigate the case and confiscate official documents, the media reported on the “unusually fast pace of the National Development Fund’s approval of its Yu Chang investment.”
The government, KMT legislators and the SID were smearing Tsai. The KMT had enormous party assets to purchase advertising and the media were helping it to propagate its agenda.
Only a few months after Ma’s victory, former prosecutor-general Huang Shih-ming (黃世銘) and the SID would find that there was nothing illegal about the Yu Chang case.
The Taipei District Court has ruled against Liu. The SID found no illegal dealings took place about the case and long overdue justice has been served.
However, nothing can be undone for voters who believed the falsified documents, trusted the SID’s investigation, Ma and Lin.
The only thing people can do now is learn from the mistakes and prevent any false accusations from impinging on future elections.
Huang Di-ying is an attorney and DPP spokesperson.
Translated by Ethan Zhan
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