Local residents from Meinung (美濃) township, Kaohsiung County, petitioned against an unlawful incinerator yesterday to Minister of Justice Chen Ding-nan (陳定南), demanding an investigation into what they believe to be collusion between public officials, businessmen and gangsters over the construction and operation of the incinerator.
Chen received the petition, but told residents' representatives that they would need to give more evidence before a criminal investigation could be launched.
Legislator Yu Jan-daw (余政道), the brother of Kaohsiung County Commissioner Yu Cheng-Hsien (余政憲), was in Meinung yesterday showing his support of the township residents.
During the meeting Chen repeated that the local government was responsible for the matter -- a stance actually taken by the protesters themselves, which only served to confuse them since he was in the same breath saying that there was little the government could do.
Not only has the dioxin and other unknown poisonous chemicals emitted from the incinerator adversely affected local residents' health and crops, but they also claimed that the owner of the facility, the Yunlin (
More than 20 Meinung residents participated in the protest at the Ministry of Justice yesterday.
"The incinerator started testing last September and it was not until November that Jihyu applied for a construction license." the petition read. "Furthermore, an operation license has not been obtained, and the incinerator has been burning waste for more than nine months. Isn't it an insult to the law and an abuse of human life?"
Petitioners strongly criticized the flawed system which had allowed the incinerator to function in the first place and claimed that they possessed evidence suggesting under-the-table deals had occurred involving public officials.
They said that the behind-the-scenes boss of Jihyu is a legislator from Yunlin County.
Yu Jan-daw complained to Chen Ding-nan that the former Taiwan Provincial Government had narrowed the required buffer zone along the river in 1998, allowing the incinerator to be built within an area where such construction had previously been banned.
But Chen stressed that "in this kind of practice, township administrative officers and county government must have participated."
Most petitioners at the scene, including Yu, agreed with Chen's comments.
Chen also suggested that it was the county government's fault that the incinerator was not torn down after it was built without a license.
Chen, however, stressed that administrative offences should be distinguished from criminal offences, and the Ministry of Justice and the prosecution only deal with the latter.
"Where the incinerator illegally accepts industrial waste from other counties and since the environmental protection bureau of Kaohsiung County did not ban the incinerator, it is beyond the duty of the Ministry of Justice to take action, unless there is evidence suggesting criminal activity, such as public officials receiving bribes." Chen said.
The petitioners claimed that one blatant act of corruption in Jihyu involved intimidation of opponents, which was designed to interfere with a criminal investigation.
After the protest failed to reach any concrete conclusion the residents agreed that they would collect more evidence.
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