Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

In the local government elections on Dec 5, voters taught the ruling Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) a lesson. A majority of the public and international media got the message voters wanted to express. Ma experienced the largest setback since taking office as his policies and governance were rejected by voters. Foreign news reports said Ma was the main loser in the elections. Ma, however, has completely ignored the message, continues to shirk his responsibility and is unwilling to accept defeat. He has blamed the “less than ideal” election results on the sluggish economy. This president, who does not accept losses or face up to his mistakes will be punished again in future elections, but what we should be concerned about is whether Ma in his remaining two years in office will continue to blindly and arrogantly persist in his errors, leading Taiwan on a course to destruction.

The Ministry of Justice’s power games continue unabated.

Yesterday, this newspaper ran a story on a proposed amendment to the Criminal Code that would allow judges and prosecutors to punish defendants, lawyers, reporters, activists and any other people who publicize evidence or case details in a manner that upsets the court. Other behavior in or out of court that “disobeys the orders” of the court in the eyes of judges would also be dealt with severely.

The main problem with these changes is that they are impossibly vague, which is sure evidence that they are a kneejerk response from prosecutorial officials who suffered professional humiliation during the debacle-ridden trials of former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁).