Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

Lee indictment is as hollow as Ma

Lin Cho-shui 林濁水

Following the indictment of former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) by the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office Special Investigation Panel, Prosecutor-General Huang Shyh-ming (黃世銘) said that of course Lee should be indicted, because the nation cannot have a situation where only ordinary people are taken to court.

Make no mistake, it would be wrong to just charge ordinary people and let the rich and powerful off the hook, so even former presidents should be indicted if they are suspected of breaking the law, but it is equally important that this standard not just apply to former presidents.

Taiwan's Diane Lee, Is She Guilty Not Only of Fraud, But Also Perjury?

Jerome F. Keating Ph.D.

Taiwan citizens currently find themselves turning aside from the Lee Teng-hui indictment case and refocusing on the case of another Lee. That case is the forgery case of Diane Lee, who was found guilty of, shall we say, ripping the country off of some $US 3.5 dollars. Lee's guilty verdict has come up for appeal. Diane Lee had to resign from the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and from the Legislature because of the case, but now she is tearfully trying to argue that she worked hard for her illegal money. By such bogus reasoning then, she wants to be allowed to keep the money as well as to avoid the two years in prison. Whatever her wishful pleas are, from all the facts thus far revealed, the opposite is true. Diane Lee is not only guilty of fraud but also it appears of what should be an additional charge of perjury. For any judge who is without political bias, this should be a slam dunk, guilty as charged, collect the money and send her off to jail case. Taiwan should not spend any more time on it.

As the World Turns: Taiwan Politics and China

Jerome F. Keating Ph.D.

Ma Ying-jeou and his election campaign team are trying to lesson the DPP candidate Tsai Ing-wen about what is the proper way to advertise oneself to the electorate. Tsai had declared that she was Taiwanese indicating that she would definitely be for Taiwan if elected and having to negotiate with China on numerous matters. Ma's team objected and cried that Tsai was being devisive by saying that she was Taiwanese when running for President of Taiwan. Say what? Should we go through that once again?

Ma's team instructed the proper way was to follow him. First Ma said he was a descendant of the Yellow Emperor in blood--that is a big claim; I have seen long geneologies but this one would have to go way past 2000 years.

Too little done for victims of White Terror: activists

Taipei Times

The government has done too little for victims of the White Terror era and Taiwanese tend to forget about what their forebears had to sacrifice for democracy, academics and former political prisoners said yesterday.

The government should establish a task force to explore, collect and manage information on all political cases during the White Terror era, the group said at a press conference announcing the launch of an online database of political prisoners and victims from 1945 to 1987.

The White Terror era began after the 228 Incident, when the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government launched a brutal military crackdown against people protesting the administration of then-executive administrator Chen Yi (陳儀). During the White Terror era, the KMT government killed tens of thousands of suspected dissidents, many intellectuals and members of the social elite.

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