Control Yuan member Chen Shih-meng (陳師孟) has proposed an open debate between him and judges in a political feud over perceived misconduct and abuse of power in the justice system.
Chen earlier this week said that he is willing to arrange a debate over the delineation of power and right to investigate alleged misdeeds and transgressions by judicial officials, including judges and prosecutors, to clarify the authority and functions of the nation’s justice system and the Control Yuan.
On Thursday, a group of Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) members gathered outside the Control Yuan in Taipei to address the flaws and failures of the justice system. They then met with Chen and gave him a bouquet as a show of support.
Photo: Hsieh Chun-lin, Taipei Times
Most Taiwanese support Chen’s plan to investigate a Taipei District Court judge and others over the acquittals of former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) in several corruption cases, they said.
Chen has said that judges involved in Ma’s cases abused the principle of judicial discretion, and passed judgement based on their political stances and personal biases.
He has over the past few weeks also highlighted alleged misconduct, failures and corruption in the justice system, as well as the public perception that judges have for far too long ruled in favor of the wealthy and powerful politicians.
Chen said he hopes that the debate could be held after the Jan. 11 presidential and legislative elections, and would feature him and another Control Yuan member against two judges so that they can “debate in open and fair conditions the competition and overlap of vested power and authority between the nation’s justice system and the Control Yuan.”
Led by psychiatrist and TSU legislator-at-large nominee Billy Pan (潘建志), the group cheered Chen’s aim to push for judicial reform and endorsed his view that “many Taiwanese have suffered injustice at the hands of judges” and that the nation’s justice system is the “final stronghold of the one party-state’s political ideology.”
“The public wants to reform Taiwan’s flawed and politically biased justice system. Too many dinosaur judges have issued rulings that rile up society,” Pan said. “We have also had enough of judges who are corrupt, abuse their power or whose mindsets are still immersed in the KMT’s one party-state ideology, and exercise the powers of the judiciary for the benefit of KMT officials.”
Public opinion surveys have consistently shown that about 80 percent of the public distrusts judges and has no confidence in the justice system’s ability to provide fair trials, he said.
People also feel that judges should be scrutinized by the Control Yuan and other branches of the government, he added.
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