Taipei resident Wu Tsung-hsien (吳宗賢) has been jailed twice over the past 10 years, once for over three years and once for three months. He now faces another jail term. The charges against him -- on all three occasions -- was refusing to serve two years of compulsory military service because of his religious beliefs.
Wu, a Jehovah's Witness since his youth, has followed the dictates of his religion and refused to bear arms.
Now, after years of struggles with the legal system, Wu and eight of his fellow adherents have taken their plight to the island's judicial review authority, claiming that compulsory military service compromises their freedom of religion.
PHOTO: CHEN CHENG-CHANG, TAIPEI TIMES
That authority has failed -- for now -- to save Wu from the possibility of another jail term.
The Grand Council of Justices ruled last Friday that the constitutional guarantee of freedom of religion does not exempt anyone -- regardless of their beliefs -- from performing compulsory military service.
In a 13-2 decision, the council ruled that the service law, which requires male citizens serve two years of military duty, is not unconstitutional and no one may refuse service because of his religious convictions.
In a legal sense, the council's decision is final. But from a human perspective, the issue is far from resolved as long as it remains a criminal offense to refuse service on religious grounds.
Jehovah's Witnesses in Taiwan estimate that 24 of their adherents have been jailed for refusing military service.
C.V. Chen (
God's law vs. the courts
"These people keep being jailed, released, indicted and going back to prison again for the same reason -- their religion doesn't allow them to bear arms. They're not the sort of criminals who deserve being put in jail. They are very gentle, peace-loving guys who do no harm to society," he said.
"In my experience, it takes pretty stubborn people to choose being jailed rather than take military training. And their stubbornness points out exactly how apathetic the law is," Chen added.
The issue at stake for the Jehovah's Witnesses is a unique legal dilemma: they believe that God's law is more important than secular ones. And to them, God speaks very clearly when it comes to warfare:
"For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty to God unto the pulling down of fortifications, destroying counsels," says Chapter 10 of the Second Corinthians.
Aside from refusing to bear arms, Witnesses will not salute national flags or participate in secular governments.
Civil authority, they say, is necessary and should be obeyed "as long as its laws do not contradict God's law."
Working around the dilemma
In Europe, governments have allowed Witnesses exemption from armed service and offered national social service that is non-combative in nature.
But in countries where military service is the only option, Witnesses escape it at the cost of their personal liberties.
"We aren't allowed [by the Bible] to take any training involving how to kill people. We aren't allowed to kill people for any reason," said Robert, a Witness from Australia.
"We're not against the government, nor would we do any harm to any people. But we're not going to do anything that involves killing," he stressed.
Internationally, there has been a long tradition of exempting conscientious objectors -- anyone who is conscientiously opposes war because of religious or personal beliefs -- from military service since World War I.
Germany's Basic Law allows those who refuse military service on grounds of conscience to choose alternative service.
Similarly, the US government has allowed conscientious objectors to be assigned non-combat service or perform civilian work.
Starting next July, the Taiwanese government will allow 5,000 male citizens a year to choose alternative service in the fields of policing, social welfare, firefighting or environmental protection. The alternative service -- which will take two months longer than ordinary two-year duty -- is expected to spare conscientious objectors from criminal liability.
"[The alternative service] is the only solution so far. Putting these people in jail doesn't solve the problem," said Chiu Hei-yuan (
Amid worries over abuse of the exemption, Chiu said the authorities concerned have to create a standard against which to assess whether a person is qualified for alternative service.
"It's not that difficult to tell. Religious convictions like the Jehovah's Witnesses' are rare in Taiwan. Whatever religion they believe in, who else would rather spend longer in jail than two years in the army?" Chiu said.
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