Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

Exceptional circumstances call for exceptional action, and there is no doubt that Taiwan faces an exceptional predicament: Despite the Cabinet reshuffle that followed the mishandling of Typhoon Morakot, the administration of President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) is becoming increasingly detached from the public and impervious to criticism.

From the harsh ruling in the trial of former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) — marred by a reassignment of judges, political meddling and a ruling smacking of political retribution — to the administration’s refusal to listen to dissenting voices on cross-strait relations, the government is acting according to an agenda that mocks transparency and ignores popular misgivings.

The brutal murder of Lin Yi-siung's mother and his two twin daughters (age 7) in broad daylight in their own home while Lin was in prison and his home was under 24-hour daily surveillance by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) one-party state secret police is one of the unsolved murders of the early 80s. Recently, Ma Ying-jeou in a seeming show of concern with justice for Taiwan's past had directed that this case and others be re-opened. To many however, it soon became apparent that Ma did not want to find answers but simply wanted a shallow, cursory examination to thus forever exonerate the KMT administration and provide himself with a facile excuse. Once completed, he could then spout to foreign media, "my administration in its concern for justice re-opened the cases from the past but unfortunately we found no other leads," and the foreign media would write how noble Ma was in trying to rectify the past etc. etc.