Premier William Lai (賴清德) yesterday apologized to the public over a potential breach of neutrality by the Transitional Justice Commission in an incident involving former commission deputy chairman Chang Tien-chin (張天欽), who reportedly compared the commission to “Dong Chang” (東廠), the Ming Dynasty-era secret police and spy agency.
It was the second time the premier, who nominated commission members, apologized for the incident since it happened on Sept. 12.
“We [the government] swore a solemn vow to the Taiwanese public to realize transitional justice and consolidate democracy in Taiwan,” Lai said.
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
“However, former deputy chairman Chang’s recent inappropriate behavior has hurt the agency’s reputation, sparked confrontation and caused a disturbance in society. I hereby apologize to society,” he said.
The Executive Yuan will put together an ad hoc team to investigate the incident and relay its findings to the public, he said.
Lai’s report was delayed for two hours yesterday morning by KMT legislators, who occupied the speaker’s podium and chanted: “No punishment, no justice.”
They were referring to the results of the commission’s investigation report last month, which did not mete out any punishments to Chang and five other commission employees involved in the case on grounds that they have all resigned or been reassigned.
At about 11am, KMT caucus secretary-general William Tseng (曾銘宗) announced that the caucus would end its boycott of Lai’s administrative report, as the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) had agreed to its demand that the Executive Yuan form an objective ad hoc investigation team and let the KMT caucus lead a review task force to verify the Executive Yuan’s investigation report.
The Executive Yuan’s investigation team is to be made up of objective members of the public and is to be assembled by Vice Premier Shih Jun-ji (施俊吉), while the task force is to be headed by KMT Legislator Lin Wei-chou (林為洲), a co-convener of the legislature’s Judicial and Organic Laws and Statutes Committee, he said.
Chang on Aug. 24 called an informal meeting with former commission secretary-general Hsu Chun-ju (許君如), two researchers and two associate researchers, and allegedly asked the attendees to brainstorm how the commission could use its draft lustration law against former New Taipei City deputy mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜), the KMT’s mayoral candidate for the municipality.
In a leaked audio recording of the meeting, Chang could be heard saying that Hou was the “most egregious case of transitional justice” and that it would be a “pity” if it could not be used to manipulate public opinion against him.
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