Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

Open letter to Ma Ying-jeou’s KMT government

Nat Bellocchi, Coen Blaauw, Et Al

Dear President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九):

We the undersigned, academics and writers from the US, Canada, Europe and Australia, are writing to you to express our concerns about a recent new development: the charges by your government that 17 former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) officials violated the National Archives Act (國家檔案法) and two other laws by “failing to return” about 36,000 documents during the DPP administration.

China detains dozens of Christian worshipers

Taiwan Tati Cultural & Educational Foundation

Beijing police arrested dozens of Christian worshipers yesterday from a “house church” — one not formally recognized by the government — when they tried to pray outdoors, a rights group said. They sang hymns and said prayers as police loaded them onto waiting buses in Beijing’s western Hai-dian District, the US-based Christian rights group China Aid said in a statement, citing witnesses.

“The Beijing authorities have again demonstrated their total disregard of their citizens’ constitutionally guaranteed fundamental right to religious freedom,” China Aid founder and president Bob Fu (傅希秋) said in the statement.

Ma Wants to be Seen as President, but He Really Does Not Want to be Responsible for Anything

Jerome F. Keating Ph.D.

Taiwan once again went through one of those questionable "Say what??" matters as regards its president. Ma Ying-jeou is the one who was "shocked" yes absolutely "shocked" when a half a million US$ got into his bank account. Of course it was his secretary's fault and Ma neither knew anything about it or even questioned it until it became public. Then he was "shocked." So what now?

Well it seems that Ma nominated Shao Yen-ling for the Council of Grand Justices. Shao has a past controversial record and has been called one of Taiwan's "dinosaur" judges. So what happened?

Doubts over fortitude of Taiwanese democracy

Peng Ming-min 彭明敏

Having just returned from overseas, I feel it necessary to share the deep concern about Taiwan’s presidential election that I encountered among many people, including overseas Taiwanese and foreign experts.

They doubt that the presidential election will be held as scheduled and are especially worried that the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) may not hand over power should the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) win the election. In a normal, mature democracy, if the government loses, it hands over the reigns of power without a moment’s thought. It then takes on the role of “loyal opposition” and continues to work for the people and the country according to the party’s founding principles.

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