Getting judges to rule on the legality of election promises is dangerous and could damage the democratic values enshrined by the government and people of this country, a DPP lawmaker warned yesterday.
"It would be a huge impairment to democracy if prosecutors believe that they could judge every platform presented in all electoral campaigns," argued Legislator Chen Chi-mai (
He was referring to a move by prosecutors in Hualien to charge DPP Deputy Secretary General Lee Chin-yung (
That promise was part of a platform offered by DPP candidate Michael You (游盈隆) in the just-concluded county commissioner by-election. You pledged that, if elected, he would extend a monthly service allowance of NT$5,000 to tribal chieftains in Hualien.
The campaign promise was criticized by KMT-PFP alliance members as an attempt to bribe Aboriginal voters and the county prosecutors demanded that Lee attend a court hearing on Thursday.
Yesterday, Chen urged the judiciary to safeguard its professional impartiality.
He also warned that people who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.
"Prosecutors must realize that, if they determine that the promised allowance was an election bribe, former Provincial Governor James Soong should be the first person to be indicted on such charges."
Chen claimed that Soong had made just such a bribe when, in February 1999, he unveiled his plan to provide a monthly allowance of NT$2,500 to 193 chiefs of lowland Aboriginal communities -- and at the same time declared his intention to run alone in the 2000 presidential election.
"This was the subsidy idea first presented to the public, even though the plan was not realized country-wide due to the provincial government's budgetary shortage and only some chieftains received the financial aid," Chen said.
"If you use the logic of Hualien prosecutors, Soong clearly bribed these lowland chieftains with the planned allowance, since it was clear that the ex-governor had decided to join the presidential race as early as that time," Chen said.
Soong denied the accusation.
"I never make such a commitment. Neither did I propose any kind of statement during elections," said Soong, who now has formed a joint ticket with KMT Chairman Lien Chan (連戰) for the 2004 presidential campaign.
KMT-PFP alliance lawmakers defended Soong by suggesting their that their DPP counterparts should treat public policy proposals and vote-buying as separate things.
But several DPP lawmakers wanted to take KMT Chairman Lien Chan (
"We think that Lien should be reviewed for several promises he made during the last presidential election -- including raising veterans' pensions -- if prosecutors believe that the chieftain allowance proposed by the DPP candidate for Hualien County commissioner was an attempt at vote-buying," Legislator Charles Chiang (江昭儀) said.
Meanwhile, a group of three clergymen from the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan are suing three KMT lawmakers for libel, saying that the trio had spread false rumors that the pastors had tried to buy votes for You.
The respondents are Alex Tsai (
"The KMT won the commissioner by-election, but they have lost their conscience," a spokesman for clergymen said.
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