Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

Cast the democracy vandals out

Liu Shih-ming 劉熙明

The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) have disregarded procedural justice and disguised their attempt at a power grab as legislative reforms, which has sparked a public outcry.

More than 100,000 people, without being mobilized by any political parties or being led by a specific person, gathered outside the Legislative Yuan on Friday last week in opposition to the controversial reform bills.

The protest has been called the Qingniao movement (bluebird movement, 青鳥運動), named after Qingdao E Road (青島東路) where the protest took place. “Qing” means blue and “dao” contains an element meaning “bird” in Chinese. It is the biggest social movement in Taiwan since the Sunflower movement.

KMT, TPP pass controversial measures

Taipei Times

The Legislative Yuan yesterday passed bills proposed by opposition lawmakers that would increase legislators’ oversight of the government as thousands of demonstrators gathered outside the venue to protest the changes.

The legislature passed the amendments to the Act Governing the Legislative Yuan’s Power (立法院職權行使法) after a day of raucous debates and scuffles between the governing Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), which saw one lawmaker’s T-shirt ripped.

Progress on passing revisions to the act had been slow earlier in the day, as the DPP made legislators go through all 77 articles of the act — even those not being changed — as a stalling tactic.

Law in Taiwan, the US and Germany

Huan Tong-shong 黃東熊

During a Constitutional Court session last month assessing the constitutionality of the death penalty, one grand justice told a Ministry of Justice official that a trial cannot be influenced by public opinion — in other words, a ruling should remain free from public whim.

I have found that views on the matter vary greatly based on a person’s educational background. Those who have received a formal law education in Germany believe that sentencing should be formed independently, both from those in power and the public.

By contrast, those trained in law in the US think that sentencing is inseparable from public opinion, and that all three powers — the executive, legislative and judicial — should yield to the public’s will.

Thousands protesting cannot be wrong

Taipei Times Editorial

The scuffles on the legislative floor on Friday last week over the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) forcing controversial legislation through to the next reading were embarrassing for the nation, but they were hardly unprecedented, and it is important not to fixate on them. Far more pernicious things are happening in the background.

The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislative caucus was fiercely opposed to the KMT’s and TPP’s antics. Objections and concerns have been expressed in many quarters, including international academics, the Taiwan Bar Association, local legal academics and the public. Protesters gathered outside the Legislative Yuan in Taipei on Tuesday morning and remain there even now, from an original several hundred to an estimated 8,000 on Tuesday evening to a reported 30,000 yesterday morning.

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