Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

Enforcing transitional justice

Taipei Times Editorial

The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP)-controlled legislature on Tuesday passed the Act on Promoting Transitional Justice (促進轉型正義條例) aimed at redressing the legacy of injustices left by the nation’s authoritarian era.

The law requires the Executive Yuan to set up a nine-member independent committee to implement transitional justice measures set forth under the act. These include investigating human rights abuses under martial law during the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) authoritarian regime,

Foundation marches for Referendum Act changes

Taipei Times

Members of the People Rule Foundation walk around the Presidential Office Building in Taipei yesterday in a demonstration calling on the government to pass a draft amendment to the Referendum Act that would lower the thresholds for holding and passing referendums.
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times

Dozens of members of the People Rule Foundation yesterday marched from Taipei’s 228 Memorial Park to the Presidential Office Building as part of its campaign to urge the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) to swiftly pass a draft amendment to the Referendum Act (公民投票法).

Taiwan and the rest of the world

Ben Goren

A by-product of Taiwan’s nearly 400 years of settler occupation, followed by the self-exile of the Republic of China from the UN for nearly a half- century, has been that Taiwanese more often ask how geopolitical events will affect them, rather than how Taiwan could and should influence the world.

Since the disastrous pride-induced walkout from the international stage in 1971, Taiwanese involvement on the world stage has been unofficially deep while officially minimal and, until 2000, generally self-pitying.

Public fed up with ‘dinosaur judges’

Taipei Times Editorial

Taiwan is no stranger to violent criminals being let off with lenient sentences, with another ridiculous ruling taking place last week.

Hsu Wen-ping (許文炳), who was convicted of brutally murdering a friend and mutilating his body, had a life sentence reduced to 18 years, because he is an alcoholic who was intoxicated when the incident occurred.

The judges said Hsu qualified for a reduced term under Article 19 of the Criminal Code, which governs crimes committed by people with mental disorders and stipulates that “punishment may be reduced ... as a result of an obvious reduction in judgement.”

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