KMT blocks Dalai Lama motion
　

HELD UP: By referring the DPP's proposal that welcomes a visit by the Dalai Lama to cross-party negotiation, the motion could sit in the legislature for at least a month
　

By Shih Hsiu-chuan
STAFF REPORTER
Saturday, Dec 13, 2008, Page 3

The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislative caucus yesterday boycotted a motion proposed by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) welcoming a visit by the Dalai Lama, following President Ma Ying-jeou's (馬英九) recent remarks that a visit by the Tibetan spiritual leader would be inappropriate.

The motion failed to pass yesterday's legislative session after the KMT asked that it be referred to cross-party negotiation, meaning the proposal could be held up for at least one month.

In accordance with legislative proceedings, lawmakers are entitled to refer a bill that they are at odds with in the committee review stage to cross-party negotiations that can last for up to one month before putting it to a vote during the legislative session.

DPP caucus whip William Lai (賴清德) expressed regret over the KMT's opposition to the motion, saying that having the legislature invite the Dalai Lama would have minimized the damage Ma's rejection of the Dalai Lama's proposed visit had caused the country.

Last Wednesday, Ma said “the timing is not appropriate” when asked during a meeting with foreign correspondents how he would respond to the Dalai Lama's wish to visit Taiwan.

The Tibetan spiritual leader on Nov. 28 told Elta TV in the northern Indian city of Dharamsala that he would like to visit Taiwan next year.

“It's hard to believe that a president elected by popular vote in the 21st century has drawn up a blacklist, and it's even harder to believe that Dalai Lama is on such a list,” Lai said.

The DPP attached great significance to the failed motion.

Lai said that if the motion was endorsed by the legislature — the government body that represents public opinion in the country — it would send a message to the world that the Dalai Lama is welcome in Taiwan and what Ma had said was his personal opinion.

“The timing is not a problem. It's nothing but an excuse,” Lai said. “The reason why Ma does not welcome the Dalai Lama is he dares not defy China. It's really a shame.”

“The Dalai Lama has in recent months met US President George W. Bush, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy ... The timing was never a problem for other world leaders,” Lai said.

KMT caucus whip Lin Yi-shih (林益世) defended the party's action, saying that referring the motion to cross-party negotiation did not mean the KMT opposed the Dalai Lama's visit.

“We just wanted to have more time for caucus members to deliberate the matter,” Lin said.

Crowd condemns violence ahead of hearing
　

By Loa Iok-sin
STAFF REPORTER
Saturday, Dec 13, 2008, Page 3
　

Accompanied by hundreds of supporters, three women who have filed lawsuits against the police for allegedly beating them during anti-China protests last month, marched to the Taipei District Court for their first court hearing yesterday.

“Our judicial system is not perfect, but we still have some expectations of it. That's why we're trying to seek justice through the judiciary against police abuses,” Judicial Reform Foundation executive director Lin Feng-cheng (林峰正) told a crowd gathered at Liberty Square in support of the complainants before marching to the courthouse a few blocks away.

“We hope the judge will be fair and give us justice,” he said.

The three complainants, Huang Yi-ling (黃怡翎), Tseng Hung-wen (曾虹文) and Lin Yun-tzu (林芸姿) — who did not know each other at the time — were talking to friends in front of a store across the street from the Formosa Regent Taipei on the night of Nov. 5, they told the crowd.

At the time, China's Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait Chairman Chen Yunlin (陳雲林) was at a dinner banquet hosted by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Wu Poh-hsiung (吳伯雄) inside the hotel.

As anti-China demonstrators surrounded the hotel and blocked Chen from leaving the venue, the police began to disperse the demonstrators around 10pm.

Before realizing what was going on, the three were pushed by the police against a wall and beaten.

“I was shocked and frightened,” Huang said. “Until today, I still feel fear whenever I see police officers.”

As the three could not identify the police officers who allegedly beat them, they decided to file a lawsuit against Taipei City's Xinyi Precinct police chief Huang Chia-lu (黃嘉祿) — who was the Songshan Precinct chief and on-site police commander at the time.

After explaining their case and showing a video they shot while being dispersed, the three walked to the courthouse accompanied by hundreds of supporters holding a sign that read: “I condemn state violence.”

As it was the first court hearing, the judge only heard their cases and reviewed the evidence.

Don’t cry, don’t cry

Dear Johnny,

Again, it’s always a pleasure reading your articles. This time I was in tears and laughing, but hey, it’s not the first time I cried over Taiwanese issues (“Don’t cry for me …”).

Now, for the first time, my hope for a better future for the Taiwanese people has vanished.

It feels like we are back when our telephone conversations were listened to and our letters were opened. And, of course, open your mouth and you are gone (Taiwanese into the “slammer” and foreigners deported).

Is that what people voted for? To have the “good old days” back? Can anyone be so stupid? So short-sighted?

Was it greed? Or did their brains not leap into the 21st century because that is what almost 50 years of brainwashing can do to you?

I guess that’s the answer.

It’s so disgusting what the prosecutors can do. Makes my hair go curly. But hey, people like it (the pan-blue people). They feast on it, and it is great fodder for the press to make up news. Gosh, where would we be without the self-righteous press?

Why doesn’t anybody arrest those crocks?

Anyway, I know why and I had to get those few lines off my chest. Not that it helps. We’ve been talking about the same subject for the last 34 years.

Anyway, thanks for your inspiring articles. They’re hilarious at times, serious, cynical and very educational.

Anna Chang
Taipei

Dear Johnny,

Don’t cry for me, Argentina? Cry for the good people of Taiwan!

Apparently, now a citizen of Taiwan can be held in solitary confinement while prosecutors investigate to see if the individual has done something wrong.

Man, talk about iron fist! This is what happens when a country comes under siege by a group of power-hungry oafs.

The signatories of the second open letter hit the nail on the head (“Eroding justice: Open letter No. 2,” Dec. 2, page 8). I hope the letter gets a complete translation and is pasted on every wall in Taiwan … you know, with that sticky rice homemade paste. Nothing bought from the land of poison across the Taiwan Strait.

Listen carefully Taiwan, now, be quiet and listen. You can hear the flight of freedom from your island.

Look over there: Can you see the KMT thugs banging cymbals and lighting firecrackers to frighten away the freedoms so dearly won by years of sacrifice and hard work?

There is no prison that can keep freedom from a people that desire it. There is no government that can deny human rights to its people if the people really want them. There is no police force that can turn on its own people, its uncles, its cousins, its fathers, mothers, brothers and sisters if the police have honor and filial piety.

Taiwan, there is hope for a better future. There is a way to light up even the darkest night. When the torch of freedom burns low, it is time to refuel that torch.

Refuel the torch of freedom for Taiwan with calls for the KMT to start behaving like a civilized government, not an enslaver of people. Exercise your freedoms by writing and talking about the changes in the government you want to see.

Do not be afraid: The next generation depends on your actions today.

A Texan

Johnny replies: Oh no, I’ve run another letter with excessive praise. Consider it a down payment for when I’m locked up in Taiyuan Prison in Taitung with my buddy “Knuckles” Chiang from Chiayi and five other luckless chaps in a cell fit for two for daring to speak out against Sinofellatio (actually, “Knuckles” would be in jail for beating a Chinese tourist for laughing at his karaoke version of Peach Blossom Weeps Tears of Blood).

Anna, at the risk of being disrespectful, might I suggest that arresting self-righteous “crocks” in the media would leave the industry with no reporters, no editors, no managers, no advertising executives and no income?

Be easy on us, OK?

If only our president were more like Sarkozy
　

By Paul Lin 林保華
Saturday, Dec 13, 2008, Page 8

Ignoring Chinese complaints, French President Nicolas Sarkozy met the Dalai Lama in Poland last Saturday. Sarkozy was also the first sitting president of the EU to meet the spiritual leader.

The Chinese government responded to the meeting with predictable hysteria.

Prior to the meeting, China had tried to intimidate Sarkozy through various channels.

According to reports in pro-Beijing media outlets, the threats included Premier Wen Jiabao (溫家寶) refusing to participate in a Dec. 1 summit with the EU; postponing negotiations on the purchase of French Airbus aircraft, which would affect tens of billions of US dollars in orders; and resuscitating boycotts of French goods.

ANGER

There are three reasons for China’s anger.

First, the two countries have established a comprehensive strategic partnership, but France is now refusing to assist China in the process of suppressing its enemies.

Second, 13 years ago China gave Sarkozy a high-level reception at a time when his political career wasn’t going too well.

Then, when Sarkozy visited China in November last year for the first time after becoming French president, he was given the same grand welcome as former US president Bill Clinton.

Third, China is experiencing economic problems and there is talk of a “February crisis.” Beijing is therefore trying to divert public attention by manufacturing external crises.

In addition, if other countries were to emulate Sarkozy, it would be China, and not the Dalai Lama, that would be isolated.

Sarkozy’s response was that he did not regret the meeting, and that as both French and EU president, he represented the value of — and belief in — freedom.

He also said that the world needs an open China to participate in global governance, and that China needs a strong Europe to maintain the rate of Chinese employment.

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner also said: “We cannot have France’s conduct dictated to, even by our friends.”

LACK

Compare this with Taiwan, where President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) rejected a visit by the Dalai Lama out of a clear lack of understanding of the value of freedom.

Ma arrived at his decision without incurring a warning from Beijing and in the process ignored Taiwanese sovereignty and human rights.

Sarkozy is more strongly opposed to communism than his predecessor, Jacques Chirac, just as German Chancellor Angela Merkel is more anti-communist than her predecessor, Gerhard Schroeder.

There may be many reasons for this state of affairs, but Sarkozy’s father emigrated from communist Hungary, while Merkel is from the former East Germany.

They are willing to meet the Dalai Lama because they have experienced communist rule, which has given them a deeper appreciation of freedom and human rights.

The Dalai Lama was invited to Poland to attend the 25th anniversary of former Solidarity leader and Polish president Lech Walesa’s Nobel Peace Prize. The Dalai Lama has also been awarded this prize.

Ma is hallucinating if he thinks he can win a Nobel Prize for working together with Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) — who has wreaked oppression and bloodshed in Tibet — to sign a cross-strait peace agreement.

Paul Lin is a political commentator based in Taiwan.