Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

Aristotle stated in Politics, “the basis for a democratic state is liberty.” Liberty is one of the most important attributes of a consolidated democracy, because the more opportunities citizens have to express, associate, discuss and represent a variety of political ideologies, the easier it is for the state to ascertain public preferences and correctly represent them in its policies. If the leadership of a government attempts to limit such freedom, that offers a chilling indication as to the government’s unwillingness to determine and adhere to the will of the people. The consequences of such an approach can be disastrous for the vitality of any democracy.

Public outrage ensued after a notice from the Ministry of Education surfaced requesting that National Taiwan University “reflect and improve the content of its PTT Gossip board.”

As one of the co-signers of several letters by a group of about 30 international academics and writers to President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) about the erosion of justice in Taiwan since he took office in May 2008, I was pleased to hear about the Taipei District Court’s verdict on Friday acquitting former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and his wife of money-laundering charges. Finally, I thought, Taiwan’s judicial system is moving in the direction of fairness and impartiality.

However, we were in for a rude awakening when over the weekend the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) — from Ma on down — displayed partisanship at its worst when party members lambasted the court’s ruling and urged voters to “vent their displeasure” at the upcoming elections for five special municipalities on Nov. 27.