The Foreigner in Formosa

Chairman Ma-o Of Taiwan Persecutes Yet Another Religious Minority

First Ma-o Ying-jeou came for the Tibetan Buddhists,
and no one spoke out because they weren't Tibetan Buddhists.

 

Then Ma-o Ying-jeou came for the Falun Gong practioners,
and no one spoke out because they weren't Falun Gong adherents.

 

Then Ma-o Ying-jeou's persecution suddenly stopped,
Because these things have never been known to spiral out of control.

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UPDATE (Oct 21/13): The Tourist Bureau of Taiwan graciously returns Falun Gong its rights to free speech again.

How big of them.

Politicos With Low Irony Quotients

This week's hands-down prizewinner is KMT caucus whip Chao Li-yun (趙麗雲):

“Just because [Ko-suen “Bill” Moo -- a Taiwanese convicted of spying in America for the Chinese Communist Party] finished his sentence in the US and came back to Taiwan does not mean he has to be watched,” she said. “Are we a police state, an authoritarian state, or a colony of the US?”

You tell 'em, spinach. Explain to us why the KMT is entirely justified in pursuing its current catch-and-release policy. The KMT wants eventual reunification, and so do Chinese spies...more or less. So y'all just go on and let them Chinese Communist spies fly and be free and go about their business. Unwatched.

Oh, and you're absolutely correct -- only a police state, an authoritarian state, or a colony of the US would heartlessly seek to deprive Mr. Moo of his inalienable right to life, liberty . . . and the pursuit of classified military technology.

(That can be used to conquer Taiwan.)

But it gets better. Because while raising the rhetorical question of whether Taiwan is a police state, Ms. Chao of the Chinese Nationalist Party kind of answers her own question. Only just not in quite the way she probably intended...

Chao [also] said the KMT caucus would demand that the Council of Labor Affairs and the National Immigration Agency (NIA) look into [J. Michael Cole's] residence certificate and work permit and declare [the foreign newspaper editor] persona non grata [for writing an opinion column critical of the KMT in the Wall Street Journal].

Remember: Taiwan is not -- the KMT repeats emphatically: NOT! -- a police state.

It's simply a place where it is now a deportable offense to express any opinion which has not been explicitly approved in advance by the Chinese Nationalist Party's Central Propaganda Ministry.

Kapiche?

[. . .] "Hangman, who is he,
for whom you raised the gallows-tree?"

Then a twinkle grew in his buckshot eye
and he gave a riddle instead of reply.
"He who serves me best," said he
"Shall earn the rope on the gallows-tree."

And he stepped down and laid his hand
on a man who came from another land.
And we breathed again, for another's grief
at the hangman's hand, was our relief . . .

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UPDATE: Irony flies thick and heavy when the KMT crudely tries to whip up anti-American sentiment ("Are we a colony of the US?"), while simultaneously accusing OTHERS of damaging the relationship between America and Taiwan.

UPDATE #2: Another irony alert. The Chinese Nationalist Party manages to keep a VERY close eye on Taiwanese farmers wishing to demonstrate in front of the Presidential Building.

But ask 'em to monitor KNOWN Chinese Communist spies, and what's their response? "No way, Jose. What do think we are, fascists?"

KMT Blackshirts Work Hand In Glove With Taiwan Security Forces

Taiwan's unutterably depressing slide into Third-Worldism continues unabated, as President Ma Ying-jeou employs organized crime members to act as backup security for a visiting Chinese Communist Party envoy.

Since Taiwan's gangster governor has recently instructed his cabinet to refer to Communist China as "The Mainland" from now on -- in accordance with his interpretation of Taiwan's constitution -- one important question needs to be asked at this juncture:  Pray tell, what exactly does your constitution have to say about the executive branch of government employing mafia foot soldiers as law enforcement deputies, Mr. Ma?

 
(Picture for illustrative purposes only: this image of Taiwanese gang members with police is not from this particular story.  From Cinapig.com)

Q: Why Did Taiwan's Premier Take a Vacation With a Mobster Convicted Of Double Murder?

A:  Because O.J. wasn't available that weekend.

Yeah, yeah -- the story's a few months old: 

Amid allegations over his relationship with a convicted double murderer and former Nantou County gang boss, Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) yesterday said he would resign if the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) could provide any evidence of irregularities in their relationship.

[...]

The DPP has continued to question the premier’s links to Chiang since local media on Wednesday reported Wu and his wife were caught on camera vacationing in Bali with Chiang and Lee Chao-ching.

(There he is, clean as a whistle.  Taiwan's KMT Premier, Wu Den-yih.  When he's not taking vacations in Bali with his double-murdering, Chinese mafia pals.  Image from Daylife.com.)

And in more recent (and somewhat related news), World Uygher Congress president Rebiya Kadeer has received a second invite to visit Taiwan.  Saturday's Taipei Times has the story, and recaps how Chinese Nationalist Party sycophants in Taiwan prevented her visit last year in order to curry favor with their Communist Party overlords.  (And note that "sycophant" is employed here in both the modern and ancient meanings of the word.) 

The government [in 2009], however, denied Kadeer entry to Taiwan on the grounds that her visit would harm the national interest.

At the time, Minister of the Interior Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) said Kadeer, president of the World Uyghur Congress (WUC), should not be allowed into the country since she had “close relations to a terrorist group.”

So my question is:  If Kadeer's entry in 2009 was deemed harmful to Taiwan's national interest because she had "close relations to a terrorist group" *, shouldn't Taiwan's second highest political office-holder be similarly blacklisted from the halls of government for his PROVEN close relations with a double murdering gangster?

"The new administration will push for clean politics and set strict standards for the integrity and efficiency of officials."

-- Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou's Inaugural address.  May 21, 2008

Epic fail on those "strict standards for integrity" there, Hoss.

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*  Unsubstantiated charges made by the Butchers of Beijing and repeated uncritically by the Toadies of Taipei.

Toadies of Taipei Suppress Chinese Dissidents for Butchers of Beijing

The ruling Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) of Taiwan has made it abundantly clear that foreign activists devoted to the cause of human rights in China are NOT WELCOME in the island nation.  First, there was the sorry case of the Dalai Lama last month, who was originally told not to visit, and finally slapped with a government-issued gag order when he was grudgingly permitted to enter the country.  Then to top things off, only a few weeks later the KMT placed the head of the World Uigher Congress, Rebiya Kadeer, also on their rapidly-growing blacklist.

Contrast that with the KMT's treatment of PRC zoo animals with annexation-oriented propagandistic names.  Why, those are hailed and welcomed by the current Taiwanese government with open arms.  Because THEY'RE not political !

Tiananmen Square demonstrators, can you take the hint?  In Ma Ying-jeou's Taiwan, Orwell's dictum now applies.  Four legs good, two legs bad.

On September 25th, Taiwan's Chinese Nationalist Party attempted to rationalize their blacklist in this way:

KMT spokesman Lee Chien-jung (李建榮) said US President Barack Obama had recently decided not to meet the Dalai Lama during his trip to the US to protect the country’s national interests. Japan had also prevented visits by former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) for the same reason.

“The decision made by the government today [to bar Rebiya Kadeer] is based on national and public interests,” he said.

Gee, only three days before Confucius' birthday, and the KMT demonstrates that it has a firm handle on the ethics of eight-year olds:

"Chinaaa hit me in the hallway!  But he was too BIG for me to hit back, so that's why I hit little Rebiya instead!"

Perhaps though, they were merely following the Confucian Silver Rule.  For who among us is unfamiliar with the Great Sage's moral imperative:

"Do unto others, as the Chinese Communist Party would do unto you."

Or something like that.  The Analects tend to lose a little in the Chinese Nationalist translation.

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UPDATE:  LOL.  Taiwan's Mainland Affair Council (MAC) announces, "Taiwan can help accelerate democratic development in China."

Left unexplained is how this is to happen when the KMT MUZZLES Chinese democracy advocates.  But I'm sure somebody smart can explain it to me.

Taiwanese KMT Despot: "Let's Throw Free Speech Under The Bus"

. . . in order to please Communist China.  From Taiwan's China Post:

. . . ruling Kuomintang (KMT) Deputy Secretary-General Chang Jung-kung, who handles the party's ties with China, warned [the mayor of the southern Taiwanese city of Kaohsiung] of the risks of screening [a film about Chinese Uigher leader, Rebiya Kadeer].

He said the mayor should give top priority to the public interest of her city, and should “think carefully” if the move affects Kaohsiung's [influx of Chinese tourists].

Mr. Deputy Secretary-General, free speech IS the public interest of Kaohsiung.  And Taiwan too, you miserable butt-wipe.

Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better

By Ma-llah, the Compassionate!  No wonder the KMT begrudged the Dalai Lama's granting succor to typhoon survivors -- why, that Tibetan outlander was stealing the limelight from their Sultan of Sympathy, their beloved Ayatollah Ying-jeou.  (Holy Keeper of the Sixteen Percent Approval Rating.)

Step aside, Dalai.  Taiwan's Second-Handsomest-Man is out to spread the love.  Sixteen Percenters everywhere can rest assured that the mere appearance of the Ma-ssiah's golden visage will turn those typhoon showers into September flowers.

(President Ma Ying-jeou image from the China Post)

(Inquiring minds would like to know, though:  Did the departed here lose their lives because of the storm, or because of SUPREME LEADER Ma Ying-jeou's criminally-inept response to it? * )

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*  A relative of mine called me one week after the typoon hit, and asked me why Taiwanese were still trapped up in the mountains.  "Doesn't Taiwan have loads of helicopters to transport troops to the beaches in the event of a Chinese invasion?  It's been a week already -- why aren't they USING those?" he asked.

No answer from me.  I was outside the country and internet-less.  Imagine my surprise though, to read last week that Taiwan's Commander-Of-The-Faithful only dispatched ONE rescue chopper the day after the storm . . . and took FOUR DAYS to authorize the use of the big helicopters.

Grand Ayatollah Ma Ying-jeou Silences Heretic

A while back, Taiwan's China Post took one of its usual swipes at the Dalai Lama, calling him a "one-time theocrat."  True enough, I suppose, but it got me to thinking:  Couldn't the "theocrat" appelation be applied with equal accuracy to Taiwan's current Chinese nationalist president, Ma Ying-jeou?

After all, in November of last year, Ma refused to permit the Dalai Lama into the country for the simple reason that the Tibetan religious figure doesn't kneel at the sacred high altar of Sino-imperialism.  Then last week, when Ma was forced by political reasons to allow the Dalai Lama to visit on a religious mercy mission, Taiwan's Supreme Leader again assumed the role of religious tyrant by issuing a government gag order on the Buddhist pontiff.

Politics and economics should be separate, Ma tirelessly preaches from his pulpit.  But politics and religion?  Not a word from hizzoner on that score . . .

Taiwanese Falun Gong followers -- I'd be afraid if I were you right now.  There's no telling how many of your rights Taiwan's self-declared high priest of religious orthodoxy is prepared to sacrifice in the name of enjoying "good relations with Beijing".

If Not Now, When?

So the Dalai Lama left Taiwan on Friday, after a religious mission for the five hundred souls lost in the wake of Typhoon Morakot.

Seemed like a pretty innocuous mission.  The man comes to Taiwan, says a few prayers for the dead, comforts the surviving kin.  Who'd object to that?

Beijing, it goes without saying.  But to outsiders it would appear remarkable that the governing Chinese Nationalist Party of Taiwan ALSO objected to a visit by his Holiness.  Taiwan's China Post had this to say:

But the timing [for the Dalai Lama to come to Taiwan] isn't right for Taiwan, this time around. Taiwan is trying what it can to improve relations with China. It is relying ever more heavily on the other side of the Taiwan Strait for getting out of its current economic downturn and the global financial crisis.

Fortunate it is for the China Post that the KMT recently legalized prostitution in Taiwan.  Now the paper's editors can rent themselves out to the Communist Party nightly -- without any fear of ever being arrested!

So my question for the Post is this:  If 500 dead Taiwanese aren't ENOUGH reason for a religious mercy mission from a world-renowned religious figure, what would be?

1000?  10,000?  100,000?

Exactly how many MORE bloated corpses buried in the fetid mud would the China Post and the KMT have liked there to have been before they'd have welcomed the Dalai Lama without reservation?

Rod Blagojevich and Chen Shui-bian

A couple weeks ago, David Ting (of Taiwan's China Post) wrote a column which invited comparison between the Blagojevich case in America with the Chen Shui-bian case in Taiwan:

Chen Shui-bian's frothy-mouthed drivel in court, defiant and unchastened, evokes images of Ron [sic] Blagojevich, the former governor of Illinois who was impeached and ousted from office two months ago for "plotting to sell" [an] Illinois senate seat vacated by President Barack Obama.  "Blago" too, denied he had ever done anything wrong.  Yes, if by A-bian's standard.  The youthful-looking Serb descendant was only guilty of "plotting to sell the plum position, and had his political career ruined.  Was Blagojevich aggrieved?  The international media showed no sympathy for him.  It seems, therefore, our ex-president may have made the wrong bet by trying to politicize his case with the help of foreign media, which may cut both ways.

The issue of Blagojevich's and Chen's innocence or guilt is completely separate from the question as to whether their treatment by the justice system has been politically-neutral.  Compare and contrast:

1)  After Blagojevich received his bail-bond hearing, police escorted him out of the courthouse through an underground tunnel so the media could NOT take any "gotcha!" perp-walk footage.

Taiwan's former president was treated with far less discretion.  Police paraded him in handcuffs in full view of media cameras.

2)  Blagojevich was granted bail on the very same day he was arrested.  Bail was set at a paltry $4,500.  In addition, his passport was confiscated as a precaution against flight.

Taiwan's Chen Shui-bian was not granted bail -- he was instead thrown into pre-trial detention, where conditions are apparently worse than Taiwan's regular penal system.  No hot showers, even in winter.  Bread and water for lunch.  That sort of thing.

(Chen's most recent request for bail was denied, partly because the current judge said the former president has not shown REMORSE for crimes he has not yet been tried or convicted upon.  This court will not grant you the presumption of innocence, sir, unless you first admit to us that you are GUILTY!)

3)  Blagojevich is at liberty to publicly protest his innocence on CBS' Late Night with David Letterman, NBC's Today, CNN's Larry King Live and Fox's On the Record with Greta van Susteren.

Taiwan's Chen on the other hand, was held incommunicado to all, save his lawyer.  In fact, when Chen's lawyer relayed to the public a POEM the former president wrote in detention to his wife, the KMT government began exploring options for legal sanctions against that lawyer.

(For purposes of completeness, I should also mention that Chen WAS briefly released by a judge, after which a KMT legislator threatened to have the judge investigated.  When the judge was duly replaced, the new judge sent Chen back to detention.  Chen is, however, now permitted at least SOME contact with the outside world, I understand.)

4)  To my knowledge, no Republican politician has ever publicly gloated over Blagojevich's fall.

In Taiwan, KMT legislators openly remarked that Chen's arrest was a joyous event.  Some of the rank-and-file agreed, setting off firecrackers in celebration.

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Postscript:  The treatment of Bernard Madoff, the man accused of running a $50 billion Ponzi scheme, is also instructive.

Bernard Madoff was initially offered bail at $10 million.  When he couldn't come up with the money, he was offered an ankle bracelet and house arrest:

The new conditions require "round-the-clock monitoring at the defendant's building, 24 hours a day, including video monitoring of the defendant's apartment door(s) and communications devices and services permitting it to send a direct signal from an observation post to the Federal Bureau of Investigation in the event of the appearance of harm or flight." Both Madoff and his wife, Ruth, have surrendered their passports as a part of the bail condition, and Ruth Madoff has signed confessions of judgment on the multi-million dollar properties in her name in Palm Beach, Florida and Montauk, Long Island, two of the nation's most desirous luxury retreats.

Now, Madoff's crimes are truly despicable.  A $50 billion Ponzi scheme.  Some people say $17 billion -- whatever.  Charities -- including Elie Wiesel's -- plundered of their assets.  People's life savings wiped out.  Two or three suicides, so far . . .

And yet, despite public opposition, the American judge decided that house arrest in this case was preferable to incarceration.  Preferable, that is, until the defendant had been found guilty in a court of law.  There was no rush -- society could surely wait 6 months or a year before sending Madoff to the big house.  (And as it turned out, it only took 3 months for the guy to plead guilty.)

What I've tried to demonstrate is that the Taiwanese judicial system has always had a whole spectrum of legal instruments to wield against former president Chen, and has at almost every turn chosen the harshest and most punitive.  Bail (be it  $4,500 or $10 million), passport confiscation, ankle bracelets or house arrest -- all these things were options for dealing with the POSSIBILITY of Chen's flight prior to trial.  Yet the court scorned them in favor of pretrial detention in which the suspect was held incommunicado.

I think it's fair for the international media to wonder why.

News From Taipei's Famous Rashomon District

Two versions of the same event at Taiwan's National Palace Museum.  First, Tuesday's Taipei Times:

A Taiwanese tour guide died of a heart attack while taking Chinese tourists on a tour of the National Palace Museum yesterday.

[...]

The death of their tour guide did not seem to affect their mood. Most took out stacks of cash and snapped up souvenirs. The shopping spree continued later at Taipei 101 and Keelung night market.  [emphasis added]

Taiwan's English unificationist newspaper, the China Post, recalls the Chinese tourists' reactions a bit differently:

All 40 Amway China members on the No. 18 bus were shocked to witness the incident, indicating they were in no mood to tour the rest of the National Palace Museum.  [emphasis added]

Comments in a latter post.

KMT Begins Purge Of Citizenry

The front page of the Taipei Times featured a story about police home searches of Taiwanese who have been involved in independence-related activities.  The story speaks for itself, but there were a couple points I'd like to mention.  From the Times:

The agents prevented [the news desk director of an independence paper] from taking pictures as they searched [his house], and he engaged in a verbal dispute with them.

“An agent who appeared to be the leader told me that I could be charged for interfering with official duties and asked me to delete all the pictures that I took,” [Chen Tsung-yi] wrote. “I didn’t know much about the law, so I deleted the pictures.”

For purposes of comparison, in America it is apparently OK for people to take photos of the police.  Legally it's a mixed bag, however, as FlexYourRights.org explains:

Videotaping or photographing police in public places is usually legal [What about within PRIVATE places, such as your own home? -- The Foreigner], so long as you don’t interfere with their activities. Nonetheless, doing so will often get you arrested.

Police don’t like to be watched or documented in any way, so they’ll sometimes bend the rules to stop you. We’ve heard many stories about people who got arrested for taping police, and the charges are usually dropped. If you’re taping or photographing police, make sure you don’t interfere, because “obstruction” is the most likely charge, and you’ll want to be able to defend against it.  [emphasis added]

Despite the risk of arrest, we don’t discourage the taping and photographing of police. Video evidence is uniquely effective in exposing police misconduct. If you acquire video or photographic evidence that warrants an official investigation, create and secure copies of the evidence, then forward it to local police monitoring groups such as civilian review boards, ACLU, and NAACP chapters. You should also obtain legal representation for yourself in case the police department retaliates against you.

Nonetheless, that's America and this is Taiwan.  I've no idea what the local law is regarding the matter.

Getting back to the Taipei Times' story:

Meanwhile, political columnist Paul Lin (林保華) penned an article in the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper) on Wednesday in which he said police from his local precinct had come to his house for no reason.

Paul Lin said he suspected the visit had something to do with recent articles he has written on police abusing their power and disregarding human rights.

In response, police said they were on a routine household visit and that it had nothing to do with Paul Lin’s background or his political opinions.  [emphasis added]

Err, I was under the impression that the Japanese-era law permitting police "household visits" was laid to rest just last year.  In fact, I went out of my way to PRAISE the KMT for repealing the law, which I regarded as a license for law enforcement to go on legal fishing expeditions.

Since the law is obviously still in force, I withdraw my previous compliments.

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UPDATE:  It just struck me to wonder how the existence of digital images on someone's camera could POSSIBLY prevent or interfere with a police search.

Taking the pictures, yes, I can see how that MIGHT interfere, under certain circumstances.  The cops want to search a cabinet, let's say, and the homeowner stands in their way with his trusty Nikon.

But if the homeowner stands off to the side and unobtrusively clicks away, I don't see how that constitutes interference any more than if he was simply standing there watching.

UPDATE #2:  Deleted files, photos or e-mails aren't destroyed, so Chen Tsung-yi's data may still be readable.  When one of my digital camera cards became corrupted a few years ago, I was able to recover MOST of my pictures using the $30 PhotoRescue program.

UPDATE #3:  This is beyond satire.  British police tell 64 year-old man that photographing teenage gang members may constitute assault.  How long before Taiwanese police start using THAT as an excuse?

UPDATE #4:  A good editorial on the general topic of videotaping police over at Fox News.

UPDATE #5:  Oh, that's nice.

More Taiwanese Police Misconduct

From Friday's Taipei Times:

More than 100 [Tibetan refugees] have been staging a sit-in at Liberty Square in Taipei since Tuesday, demanding that the government grant them legal resident status or at least a work permit.

They were forcibly removed from the demonstration site and dropped off in the outskirts of the city, including Guandu (關渡), Nangang (南港) and in the mountains in Neihu (內湖) at around 3am yesterday.

Now, the Tibetans in question WERE breaking Taiwan's assembly law by demonstrating without permits.  The police response was however, also unbounded by law.  Doubtless, judges are granted a measure of discretion when adjudicating these types of cases.  But I'm pretty sure there's not a single statute on the books that authorizes law enforcement to pick up suspects and just abandon them SOMEWHERE IN THE MIDDLE OF FRICKIN' NOWHERE.

The most sinister interpretation of this is that the police were trying to send a signal.  Engage in forbidden dissent, and we can make you "disappear".  Temporarily -- though that could change in the future . . .

And the kindest interpretation?  OK, Taiwanese authorities wanted to remove Tibetan protesters from Liberty Square (or Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall, or whatever it's being called these days).  Possibly on the basis of "numerous complaints" from Communist Party tourists from China.  But Taiwan's higher-ups didn't want the Tibetans jailed because that might turn them into an international cause celebre.  So instead the cops were instructed to remove the ralliers and make their lives difficult, on the theory that that might help dissuade them from illegally protesting again in the future. 

According to this explanation, the police acted out of cowardice, not deliberate malice.  No real harm done then, and problem solved.  Gin and tonics all around.

No harm done -- except when one of these poor bastards gets dropped off by police and meets with an unfortunate accident.  Because it's 3 am, remember?  Pretty easy time to get mugged, or run over, or what-have-you.  And when that happens, who's morally (if not legally) responsible?

The police department that put him there at three in the morning, that's who.

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UPDATE:  Today's Taipei Times comes to some of the same conclusions, but also pointed out the fact that the Tibetans didn't speak Mandarin -- which made it difficult for them to return back to Taipei after the police drove them from the city.

Also of concern is the behavior of police in apprehending Tibetan protesters at the same location and, in some cases, taking them to the hills of Neihu District (內湖) — in Taipei City terms, the middle of nowhere — and dumping them there. In some cases the hapless Tibetans did not even have the language skills to ask for directions.

It is not clear what this technique might be called in the National Police Agency officers’ manual, but from a legal standpoint it borders on abduction.

Dumping protesters in remote locations is a practice that must cease forthwith. If not, the police will once again invite scrutiny from international rights observers — not something that they would relish given the thoroughgoing incompetence of senior police in dealing with foreign observers.

I ran to the supermarket a few times in the wee hours of that morning, and it was a bit nippy.  I was only outside for 5 or 10 minutes, though, and it was probably colder in the mountains around Taipei, too.  Wonder if any of the Tibetans were dressed for it?

Breaking The Golden Thread

"Throughout the web of the English Criminal Law one golden thread is always to be seen, that it is the duty of the prosecution to prove the prisoner's guilt . . ."

-- Viscount Sankey LLC in Woolmington v. DPP  [Just how ironic is THAT case name? -- The Foreigner]

From today's Taipei Times:

[A spokesman] later said [Taiwan's] Presidential Office was in favor of [changes to a Taiwanese law] if "a balance could be reached between presumption of innocence and public impression of the suspect."  [emphasis added]

Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou must have learned some VERY cutting-edge legal theories when he earned that PhD in law from Harvard University.  So cutting-edge in fact, that Ma's standard of justice shares less in common with Lord Sankey's than with China's Cultural Revolution.

Might make for a good reality TV program, though.  Let's call it, "The People's Republic Court".  All Taiwan needs to do is find some KMT Judge Wapner wannabe -- he can be in charge of the "presumption of innocence" part of the verdict.  Meanwhile, a special 1-800 number at the bottom of the screen could allow viewers to vote, in order to give weight to the "public's impression of the subject." 

At the trial's conclusion, a television producer of unusual probity and wisdom would be on hand to split the difference.  To reach the delicate equilibrium of justice.  Ma's balance point, if you will.

All of Taiwan owes Ma Ying-jeou a debt of gratitude.  It was high time SOMEBODY finally put the "Show" back into the Show Trial!

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Postscript:  Now we know how sincere the KMT was when they decried populism in Taiwanese politics.  Over there at Harvard, Ma's former law professors ought to hang their heads in shame.

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UPDATE:  Despite his many critics and political enemies, President Richard Nixon NEVER had his secret service protection stripped from him by the American Congress, as Taiwan's KMT now proposes to do to former President Chen Shui-bian.

(Nixon did however, voluntarily waive his secret service protection roughly ten years after he resigned from office.)

Zimbabwean Dictator Emulates Taiwan's KMT

Robert Mugabe sends goons to burgle opposition political headquarters:

After four days of silence from the government, shadowy intruders ransacked MDC offices...

Interesting that Mugabe had the sense of shame to send UNIDENTIFIED men to do his dirty work.  Unlike the KMT, which of course made ITS attempt at office-breaking last month with four elected LEGISLATORS in broad daylight.

All You Need To Start An Insane Asylum Is A Committee Room...And A 75% Parliamentary Majority

From the Saturday edition of Taiwan's China Post:

President-elect Ma Ying-jeou said yesterday that he supports reopening the [partisan kangaroo court investigation that would "prove" President Chen Shui-bian's election in 2004 was invalid, because he "faked" an assassination attempt upon his life in order to win sympathy votes.  The pieces fit together PERFECTLY - really, they do!]

Bet the Taiwanese electorate will be positively thrilled to watch the KMT hard at work, fulfilling all those sincere campaign pledges to FOCUS LIKE A LASERBEAM on the economy.

Taiwan's President-Elect: "I Was A Grade-School Martinet"

No, no - that's not a scoop from hostile newspapers. That's the glowing message from SYMPATHETIC media organs:

Seventeen of [Ma Ying-jeou's] classmates at the former affiliated elementary school of the provincial Taipei Girls' Normal School were present at the morning [class reunion] party, where they reminisced about Ma, the discipline enforcer of the class.

"He was a strict disciplinarian," one classmate pointed out.

[...]

All his classmates present at the [recent class reunion] addressed Ma as "Our Classmate the President," though he continued to serve as their discipline enforcer.

Ma called the roll. Everyone had to answer "Here." Then he led everyone in singing the school anthem. He never hesitated to point an accusing finger at anyone who didn't open his mouth wide enough to sing.

When the former classmates jostled against each other to get an autograph, Ma the disciplinarian ordered them to line up for a group picture first. "Picture first, then the autograph," Ma commanded. Everybody obeyed.

Don't think I've ever heard the words, "strict disciplinarian," used as a compliment before.  There's something a bit repulsive about rosily portraying the officious behavior of a bossy 6 year-old.

At any rate, that's the narrative Ma's idolizers in the Fourth Estate are trying to create, as this recounting of an earlier encounter shows:

President-elect Ma Ying-jeou brought his supporters into line in front of his home in Taipei [on the morning of March 25th].

"I will count [to] five," Ma told the hundreds of people who gathered to wait for his return home from a morning jogging.

"Then, line up in queue," ordered the president-elect like a drill sergeant giving orders to his recruits in boot camp.

They obeyed.  They had to, because they wanted to shake his hands, pose with him for a picture, or get autographs.

Ma obliged.

Former elementary school classmates and star-struck supporters are one thing.  It remains to be seen whether Taiwan's 81 Tyrants will be quite so servile towards the former Strongman-in-Short-Pants.

Ma Ying-jeou's Double Standard

Remember how the KMT threatened to sic John Law after Theresa Shaheen when it looked like she might deliver some unwelcome news about the validity of Ma Ying-jeou's old American green card?

Theresa Shaheen, former chairwoman of the American Institute in Taiwan, is being given a...warning against getting involved in the "green card" issue over Kuomintang presidential hopeful Ma Ying-jeou.

"We wish Ms. Shaheen to know that it's unlawful for an foreign national to get involved in an election in Taiwan," a top aide to Ma said yesterday. According to the Election Law, no foreign nationals may electioneer for a candidate in Taiwan.

Well, I was just throwing out old newspapers around here, when I happened to run across this:

Meanwhile, Ma's campaign team invited a US immigration lawyer to support the candidate's claim that it was not necessary to complete an I-407 form to give up one's green card.

Query:  I wonder if Ma's aides issued similar threats to the U.S. immigration lawyer whom they invited to speak on their candidate's behalf?  I mean, you can't graduate with an S.J.D. in Law from Harvard like Ma did, and not believe in the sacred principle of equality before the law, can you?

Can you?

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POSTSCRIPT:  My initial post on the subject can be found here.

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UPDATE (Mar 31/08):  Therese Shaheen denies the KMT story that she was ever willing to wade into the green card controversy:

In her statement, in English and Chinese, Shaheen said she was "never involved in any matters" regarding the green card issue during the presidential campaign.

"Fantastic rumors about my alleged involvement, my plans to make public statements about it, and the allegation that I was doing so because I favored one party over the other were 100 percent false," she said.

 

And So It Begins

KMT stalwarts begin to openly discuss changing Taiwan into an illiberal democracy:

...there is nothing "terrible" if one party controls both the legislative and executive branches of government.  Nothing terrible has happened in Singapore after the ruling PAP's (People Action Party) established one-party dominance.  In fact, Singapore is the envy of the developing world, just as Taiwan once was.

It would be only too easy to rattle off a list of one-party states that subsequently became hells-on-earth.  Funny how president-elect Ma Ying-jeou never mentioned this little scheme in front of the electorate.  But then I guess he's clever enough to realize proposing a soft dictatorship BEFORE the polls open might not have gone down so well with the voting public.

The Devil's In The Details

Taiwan's campaign document scandal?  It's no biggie, says the China Post:

As a matter of fact, DPP city councilors of Taipei made a similar on-the-spot check on the Ma campaign headquarters on March 4.

There was no confrontation, however.

The March 5th Taipei Times and China Post's archives have no mention of this (at least, after a cursory check), but that doesn't mean it didn't happen.  Still, I have a few questions about this supposed inspection.  Answers to the following might help us decide how similar the two cases really are:

• Did the DPP city councilors on the 4th enter Ma's KMT campaign headquarters alone, or as part of a bi-partisan group composed of KMT city councilors as well?  The March 12th "investigators" belonged to one party only (the KMT).
• Did the DPP city councilors on March 4th visit Ma's campaign offices as part of an expected, pre-scheduled inspection, or was it a snap inspection?  Alex Fei and his merry band showed up completely unannounced on March 12th.
• Did the DPP city councilors pretend to be fire safety inspectors on their March 4th inspection, as the KMT legislators did during their "inspection" on the 12th?
• Were the DPP city councilors asked to leave by security guards, and did they comply?  When asked to vacate the premises, the KMT legislators on the 12th elected not to do so.
• Did the DPP city councilors on March 4th try to enter Ma Ying-jeou's office unattended, which would have allowed them to rifle through campaign documents and troll through his computer systems?  Depending on the version of March 12th's events, the KMT legislators tried to (or actually DID) exactly that.

I find it amusing that the China Post attempts to spin the attempted theft of independence party documents as nothing more than a run-of-the-mill inspection.  If the inspection was so routine, why does the China Post contradict itself by saying it was 'inane'?  Because if the check was as completely proper and ordinary as the China Post insinuates, then the KMT legislators cannot be accused of 'inanity' - they were simply doing their jobs.  Ma Ying-jeou should never have apologized then, for blame would belong solely to the rioters: rioters who interfered with a lawful, proper, everyday inspection.

But if there's something not-quite-kosher about the KMT's March 12th "inspection" - as the Post concedes by calling it 'inane' - then bringing up cases of inspections that WERE lawful, proper and ordinary serves only to muddy the waters around the issue.

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Postscript:  Of course, muddying the waters is one of the China Post's specialties.  Perhaps the most blatant example of this is when columnist and editorial writer Joe Hung tries to persuade foreign readers that the 2004 shooting of President Chen Shui-bian was staged.  How is it possible, he asks, that President Chen was shot when not a SINGLE spectator at the campaign parade heard the the gunshot?

Now, any foreign reader has got to see that and think, "Wow, that certainly DOES sound mysterious."  But what the average foreign reader DOESN'T know (and any damn fool living in Taiwan IS aware of) is that the shooting took place at a campaign parade where there were HUNDREDS of big, noisy-ass FIRECRACKERS blowing up.  Blowing up left, right and center.  Pretty hard to hear one or two gunshots in that environment, as Hung is well aware.

To be blunt then: Joe Hung has a major credibility problem.  So that's why I'm from Missouri when he tells us the March 4th and the March 12th inspections were somehow similar.

How To Swindle A Rich, Elderly Widow - The Alex Fai Method

[A bit of satire.  Readers from outside Taiwan might want the background story first.]

Widow (answering a knock at her door):  Yes, may I help you?

Alex Fai:  Yes, ma'am.  You may not know me, but I'm a KMT lawmaker in Taiwan's national legislature.  I've been authorized by the legislature to conduct a safety inspection of the premises.

Widow (bewildered):  Safety inspection?  What kind of safety inspection?

Alex Fai:  Fire safety inspection, ma'am.  We've had a rash of fires in this neighborhood caused by piezoelectric sparks from improperly-stored diamonds.  You'd be surprised how often that happens.  Anyhow, I need you to show me where you keep all of your diamonds so I can make sure your jewelry isn't posing a fire hazard to the rest of the community.

Widow:  Ehhh?  You want to see my JEWELRY?  Because it might start a FIRE?

Alex Fai:  Don't be alarmed; it's all on the up and up.  Really. Haven't you heard of me?  I'm Alex Fai, legislator.  Or should I say, legislator - AND fire safety inspector.  Well, part-time fire safety inspector.  Fire safety checks are kind of a thing I like to do in my spare time...  When I'm not in the legislature.  You know - legislating.

Widow:  This sounds pretty fishy to me...

Alex Fai:  No, no, it's all perfectly standard.  In addition, the legislature has authorized me to carry out a non-fire safety related inspection of your home as well.  Inspection of a public place, we call it.

Widow (indignantly):  Public place?  Why, this is MY home!

Alex Fai:  Well, it is, and it isn't, if you get my drift. You see, YOU own a mortgage, and that mortgage is held by a BANK.  The BANK'S operations are overseen by the FINANCE COMMITTEE, of which I, Alex Fai, am a member.  Ergo, your house, from a certain point of view (and by "a certain" I mean "my") is therefore public property.  We lawmakers can't be barred from conducting inspections of public property - that's the law.

Widow:  My stars, I've never heard of anything so outlandish! 

Alex Fai (losing patience):  Ughh, am I gettin' tired 'a THIS.  Just let me through the door, b*tch!  (pushes way into house)

Ow, ow!  Stop hitting me around the ears with that cane!  Do you have any idea who you're messing with?  I'm a KMT lawmaker in the ROC legislature!  We've got a 75% majority!  I'll sue you for violating my personal liberty!  And interfering with a legislator's lawful inspections!  And, and...

Oh, thank goodness you came just in time, officers.  Ha, ha, no, there's no need to book me and take me in for fingerprinting.  And don't you go listening to anything this sweet, little old adle-pated lady says, either. Because as you can see from my ID, I'm Alex Fai, KMT legislator.

Say...you chaps wouldn't mind giving me a lift back to my pad in your police cruiser, would you?  If you're not too terribly busy?

Policeman:  Anything you say, boss.

Alex Fai:  Good lad.

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(Disclaimer: Neither Alex Fai nor The Foreigner can guarantee that users of this technique will not suffer bodily harm or incarceration.  Actual results may vary.)

Alex Fai, Would-Be Campaign Document Thief, Says He's Sorry

And that he'll commit suicide if Ma Ying-jeou loses the Taiwanese presidential election on his account.

Only thing is, it was only two and half days ago that Mr. Fai tried to get past security guards by claiming he was some big hot-shot fire safety inspector.  (Which isn't bad:  he COULD have said he was Art Vandelay, the architect.  But then, he would have had to forgo his life-long dream of impersonating a fire safety inspector!)

With a record of honesty like this, why would anyone believe anything this guy says now?

"Vote Ma or I'll kill myself."

A case of bad salesmanship if ever I've heard one.

(Alex Fai image from the ROC Legislative Yuan website.)

Karl Popper On Checks And Balances

Been years and years since I read The Open Society and It's Enemies, but there's one paragraph from Book 1 that's always stuck in my mind:

...if we approach political theory from a different angle, then we find that far from solving any fundamental problem, we have merely skipped over them, by assuming that the question 'Who should rule?' is fundamental.  For even those who share this assumption of Plato's admit that political rulers are not always sufficiently 'good' or 'wise' (we need not worry about the precise meaning of these terms), and that it is not at all easy to get a government on whose goodness and wisdom one can implicitly rely.  If that is granted, then we must ask whether political thought should not face from the beginning the possibility of bad government; whether we should not prepare for the worst leaders, and hope for the best.  But this leads to a new approach to the problem of politics, for it forces us to replace the question:  Who should rule? by the new question:  How can we so organize political institutions that bad or incompetent rulers can be prevented from doing too much damage?  [emphasis added]

- Karl Popper, The Open Society and Its Enemies Book 1:  The Spell of Plato, p 120-121

Readers are free to agree with Popper on this one, or they're free to agree with Dr. William Fang of the China Post, who breezily dismisses considerations of governmental checks and balances as nothing more than "the balance of power fallacy."  It must dismay Fang to learn that KMT presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou himself has become a recent convert to Popper's point of view, now that his campaign has taken a broadside from public opinion due to the recent attempt by KMT legislators to steal campaign documents from Ma's opponent.  Saturday's Taiwan News describes Ma's sudden epiphany:

[Ma] reiterated that the incident stemmed from the legislators having confused their roles as lawmakers with that of law enforcers.  The KMT has the advantage of holding three fourths of the seats in the Legislature, but party lawmakers should exercise more self-restraint in carrying out their legislative duties...

Ma vowed that if he is elected president, he will push for political reforms to make sure there was no recurrence of the confusion between lawmaking and executive power.

"I am supported by strong public opinion - anyone who opposes or resists reforms will immediately become a subject of reform themselves," Ma said.

That's rich.  Ma's gonna twist arms and make the 81 Tyrants voluntarily enact curbs upon the nearly-unrestricted power that they currently enjoy - or believe they're entitled to.

Him and what army?

Ma Ying-jeou Labors Mightily To Top Chen Shui-bian's Record

From a story in today's Taiwan News, titled, "Ma apologizes for sixth time over conflict at Hsieh's office":

Opposition Kuomintang presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou yesterday bowed three times to apologize for the sixth time to his rival Frank Hsieh, his supporters, and [to society], in a gesture seen as damage control after four KMT legislators intruded into Hsieh's campaign headquarters on Wednesday.

The reason for the multiple apologies was that four legislators from Ma's party - Alex Fei, Chen Chieh, Lo Ming-tsai and Luo Shu-lei - all tried to steal documents from Hsieh's official campaign office.  Ten days before Taiwan's presidential election.  And they got caught.  And all hell subsequently broke loose.

Apologies are of course in order from Ma, but the Taiwan News' headline reminded me of a Joe Hung column in the China Post from a couple years back, where he implied Chen Shui-bian was an unfit president simply because he said he was sorry TOO FREQUENTLY:

President Chen Shui-bian is the most apologetic chief of state in Taiwan's brief annals of democratic government -- and probably in world history as well.

He has apologized ten times in the six years of his presidency.

Hey Joe, your man Ma's not doing too shabby himself, what with 6 apologies in two and half DAYS.  That's gotta be some kinda record too, doncha think?

If it isn't, never fear:  there's still seven days left till voters here go to the polls.  All Ma needs to do is average 0.6 apologies per day, and he'll have achieved in a mere ten days what took Chen Shui-bian six long YEARS to accomplish.

Jia yo, Ma Ying-jeou!  Jia yo.

KMT Set Taiwan On The Road To Zimbabwe

"The poorest man may in his cottage bid defiance to all the forces of the Crown.  It may be frail, its roof may shake; the wind may blow through it; the storm may enter, the rain may enter - but the King of England cannot enter; all his forces dares not cross the threshold of the ruined tenement."

- Pitt the elder

"Look around.  Turn the dump upside down if you want to.  I won't squawk - IF you've got a search warrant."

- Sam Spade, from The Maltese Falcon

KMT lawbreakers gain illegal access to the campaign headquarters of Frank Hsieh, the Taiwanese independence party's presidential candidate.  In broad daylight.  From the Taiwan News' Thursday editorial:

At approximately 4:30 p.m., KMT lawmakers Fei Hung-tai, Chen Chieh, Lo Ming-tsai and Lo Shu-lei of the Legislature's financial affairs committee, literally dragged Finance Minister Ho Chih-chih and the president of the First Financial Holding Company to the DPP candidate's "Taiwan Renewal" campaign headquarters and, heedless of the protests of security guards, rushed into the building and attempted to enter the personal office of the DPP [presidential] candidate.

The legislators apparently tried to bluster their way past the guards by alternately claiming they were "inspecting a public place"* or were carrying out a "fire safety inspection."  Inspecting a public place?  That'd be lie #1.  Once somebody rents a property, it's no longer public by any stretch of the imagination.  Period.  As for the whole fire safety inspection line, I took the liberty of googling "fire safety inspection certification" on the web.  In Florida at least, certification entails 200 hours of training plus the passing of a written exam.  Yes, Florida is Florida, and Taiwan is Taiwan, so the requirements may be somewhat different.  Still, I'd be most surprised to learn that these illustrious legislators had the certification to conduct fire safety inspections, to say nothing of local fire department authorization to conduct an inspection on that particular day, in that particular locale.

The China Post provides a vivid image of what happened next:

When the group took an elevator to the 13th floor...the DPP staff cut off the power supply, trapping them inside.

(Threepio!  Shut down all the garbage mashers on the detention level!  Shut down all the garbage mashers on the detention level!)

The Taiwan News adds that the novice fire inspectors were stuck in the elevator for almost 40 minutes, and its account continues:

All four were eventually escorted out of the building by police called by Hsieh office staff and, surrounded by Hsieh supporters, the three were pushed into a police car, while Lo, the son of noted gangster and former legislator Lo Fu-chu, fled the scene.

The incident sparked a two-and-a-half hour confrontation as Hsieh's staff, volunteers and supporters blocked police from allowing the police cars from leaving with "suspects caught in the act of committing a crime" until a Taipei District Court prosecutor arrived to take a disposition and accept charges from the Hsieh camp.

In their statement to police, the group justified their actions by claiming to be investigating allegations that the First Commercial Bank had rented office space to Hsieh's campaign at below-market rates.  Of course, had the merry band's "investigation" succeeded, they would have been privy to confidential campaign information belonging to their political opponent, so some might be tempted to take their alibi with a grain of salt.  At any rate, the Taiwan News correctly points out that allegations of this nature merit a letter of complaint to the appropriate prosecutor's office, not vigilante action:

The KMT lawmakers said their action was based on "information" that the Hsieh headquarters was "illegally" using a floor of the 13-floor building, but we believe that there can be no justification whatsoever for the KMT legislators to take the law into their own hands and attempt literally to break into the headquarters office of a presidential candidate of a rival party.

In the history of elections in Taiwan, yesterday's incident marked the first time that staff from one party had attempted to openly enter without permission the offices of another presidential candidate.

I know it's a cliche, but I still can't resist saying it:  What did KMT presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou know, and when did he know it?

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* Inexplicably, a link to the China Post's article on the subject, titled, "First melee erupts in run-up to polls," is nowhere to be found on its website.  Now c'mon, that was a front page, above-the-fold story!

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UPDATE:  I'm being a bit mean asking the old Watergate question of Ma, because after all, he DID apologize, in a manner of speaking.  It was one of those everybody's-in-the-wrong-so-no-one's-really-to-blame deals:

Speaking in Chiayi yesterday, Ma expressed "regret" over the incident and censored the Hsieh camp [!] for "violence".

That's something to look forward to, isn't it?  If Ma Ying-jeou wins, I mean.  Four years of Milk-Toast Ma doing nothing but apologizing, over and over again, for the extremism of power-drunk KMT parliamentarians.

UPDATE #2:  Many thanks to Tim Maddog for finding the link to the China Post story.  The link's been added to the post.