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DEFENSIVE MANUEVER: The results of a survey taken last week show more than half of the respondents felt the government was right to boost defense spending

More than half of the people in a new poll disapproved of Saturday's anti-arms procurement rally and felt that it is necessary for the government to increase the defense budget and strengthen defense abilities in the face of China's military intimidation.

The poll, conducted by Decision-Making Research between Sept. 21 and Sept. 23 and made available yesterday by the Government Information Office (GIO), found that nearly 56 percent of the respondents said that they did not support Saturday's march, while more than 28 percent said that they approved of it.

The rally was organized to protest the government's proposed NT$610.8 billion (US$18 billion) arms-procurement budget for US weaponry. Opponents argue that the policy would lead to an arms race with China and eventually to war, among other objections.

The survey found that 57 percent of the respondents felt it was necessary to increase the defense budget and strengthen defense abilities in the face of China's military threat, while over 31 percent felt no such need.

When asked to decide between the importance of strengthening the defense budget and increasing budgets for social welfare and education, nearly 53 percent of the respondents said that they were equally important, while about 35 percent said it was more important to increase the social welfare and education budgets.

Only 6.2 percent said that it was more important to beef up defense capabilities and safeguard national security.

The survey found more than 71 percent of respondents said the legislature should pass the statute regarding the disposition of assets improperly obtained by political parties soon, while 6.7 disagreed.

The Cabinet approved the draft statute in September 2002, but it has been bogged down in the legislative procedure ever since. The proposed bill would empower the government to investigate and confiscate assets that have been unlawfully obtained by parties.

The survey results contradicted a poll conducted by a pro-China Chinese-language newspaper which was released on Sunday.

About 50 percent of respondents to that poll said they opposed the government's plan to spend more than NT$610 billion over the next 15 years to acquire weaponry from the US. Only 31 percent said they supported the plan.

The newspaper poll found that 55 percent of respondents said the arms proposal would not guarantee peace and security across the Taiwan Strait.

Meanwhile, the poll conducted by Decision-Making Research found that about 38 percent of respondents supported the Democratic Progressive Party and Tai-wan Solidarity Union's decision not to name members to a committee to investigate the March 19 assassination attempt, while 33 percent said they did not approve.

More than 58 percent of res-pondents said that they did not think a committee composed of representatives of the pan-blue alliance, would be able to find truth, while 18 percent said it would.

About 67 percent said that they supported the government's request for a constitutional interpretation of the March 19 Shooting Truth Investigation Special Committee Statute, while nearly 14 percent disagreed.

If the Council of Grand Justices does rule on the constitutionality of the statute, more than 71 percent said that all parties should accept the ruling, while only 7 percent said they should not.

HARSH LANGUAGE: Mark Chen used a rude colloquialism to blast his Singaporean counterpart for criticizing Taiwan

Minister of Foreign Affairs Mark Chen yesterday blasted Singapore Foreign Minister George Yeo for telling the UN that actions by Taiwan's independence groups could lead to war with China.

"Singapore holds China's lan pa ( LP) with its hands, if I may use these ugly words," a fuming Chen said.

In the Hoklo language (also known as Taiwanese), lan pa means "testicles"; saying that someone holds another's lan pa means that he is fawning over that person.

Chen was speaking during a meeting with a pro-independence group which had requested that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs change the name of Taiwan's representative office in Japan to better express Taiwan's sovereignty.

Chen lamented Taiwan's status in the international community, saying "even a tiny garden country like Singapore, which only has 3 million people, can criticize us."

The minister, who returned from the US yesterday, was clearly irritated by Yeo's speech in the 59th session of the UN General Assembly in New York last Friday.

Yeo told the General Assembly that "the push towards independence by certain groups in Taiwan is most dangerous because it will lead to war with mainland China and drag in other countries ... At stake is the stability of the entire Asia-Pacific region."

Quoting Yeo's statement to the pro-independence group yesterday, Chen said people in Taiwan need to persevere if they want to survive.

"Where is justice in the world? This world has no justice," Chen said. "When [Singaporean Prime Minister] Lee Hsien Loong visited us two months ago, we treated him very well. He came under tremendous pressure [from China] after the trip."

China's pressure influenced Singapore to make the speech in the UN, but "Yeo's remarks went too far," the minister complained.

"Yeo mentioned that some people in Taiwan want independence," Chen said. "Many countries probably didn't know there are people in Taiwan desiring independence before Yeo talked about it."

Thanks to Yeo's statement, these countries would now "realize our ambition" to achieve independence, he said.

The independence group had appealed to Chen to change the name of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in Japan by replacing the word "Taipei" with "Taiwan." The group said the name downgraded the country's status as a state. It asked the ministry to negotiate with the Japanese government about the name change as soon as possible.

"I think the group made the right appeal," Chen said. "Many of us are not clear what our national title is. Even I, as foreign minister, often forget the names of our overseas representative offices. This is ridiculous."

Chen was referring to the various names Taiwan's overseas representative offices have been forced to adopt to prevent political pressure from China being applied on those countries.

Meanwhile, the minister also said that the arrest of Donald Keyser, the former US deputy assistant secretary for East Asian and Pacific affairs, would not affect Taipei-Washington relations. Chen stressed that Taiwan wanted to maintain good ties with the US.

On Aug. 24, the Legislative Yuan passed the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and People First Party (PFP) version of the March 19 Shooting Truth Investigation Special Committee Statute, which drew massive criticism and questions from many directions. For the general public, the key point about this statute -- which has now been written into clear legal language and passed into law -- is that it will seriously violate the human rights of anyone who may be under investigation.

Even though independent Legislator Su Ying-kuei was permitted to double as vice chairman of Taipei City's Human Rights Commission and thus became part of the team surrounding Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou , he has not opposed this rights-violating statute. When the Cabinet sent the statute back to the legislature for reconsideration, Su instead tried to blur the issue by claiming that two grand justices had called to persuade him to vote against it.

He then refused to take responsibility for his accusation by divulging who the two grand justices were. Instead he tried to use it to destroy the credibility of future constitutional interpretations delivered by the Council of Grand Justices. This move casts doubt on Su's image as a "human rights lawyer," and it also raises grave concerns about his appointment to Taipei City's Human Rights Commission.

Su boasts of being a protector of human rights, and in the past he has criticized practices in the judicial system. He once said, "In Taiwan, courts are the places least able to tell right from wrong. This is not a problem of laws, it's a problem of people. But saying so is unfair to the vast majority of judges, so maybe we should say that it's a systemic problem."

I still hear these words ringing in my ears. But surprisingly, Su did not try to block the vicious March 19 statute, and he even helped assure its passage, to the detriment of human rights. To our surprise, this man serves as vice chairman of Taipei City's Human Rights Commission. As a Taipei City councilor, I cannot help but break into a cold sweat on behalf of Taipei residents.

To guarantee the human rights of Taipei residents now and in the future, I want to ask Su's advice on some important issues, in the hope that he will be able to dispel Taipei residents' confusion by clearly explaining his position.

First, Article 8 of the March 19 statute says that "the Committee, in the execution of its powers, is not limited by the Law of National Secrets Protection, Trade Secrets Act, Code of Criminal Procedure or other laws. Summoned organizations, groups or individuals may not use national secrets, trade secrets or investigation secrets as reasons to avoid, delay or refuse to appear ... In case of violation of Clauses 1, 2, 3, 4 or 6, the organization's leader as well as the perpetrator shall be given a fine of no less than NT$100,000 and no more than NT$1 million. The committee may continue to issue fines to anyone who continues to violate these regulations ... Should this Committee, or members executing the powers of the Committee, deem it necessary, the person under investigation or concerned individuals may be prohibited from leaving the country."

If the committee feels it has to investigate a Taipei resident, the above regulations mean that this resident could be issued consecutive fines and be restricted from leaving the country for protecting trade secrets. If this inability to leave the country to conduct business induces losses and the person lodges a complaint with Taipei's Human Rights Commission, what would Su's verdict be?

Second, if a city resident does not want to provide information in order to protect his or her privacy, the committee may directly enter the individual's home or office to conduct a search, and it does not need a search warrant from a prosecutor or court to do so.

What will Su do to help these residents uphold their rights and interests and get a fair treatment when their reputation, lives and even financial assets have been negatively affected? And how will the Human Rights Commission handle cases where female Taipei residents have been sexually harassed or even assaulted during body searches by male investigators appointed by the Special Committee?

The powers bestowed by this statute are completely unlimited, restricted by no law or institution. This means that if any Taipei resident under investigation has their rights violated, not only will Su be unable to do anything, but even Ma will have to stand by and watch as the human rights of city residents are trampled on. Su owes the public an explanation.

Not only does the March 19 statute violate human rights, it exceeds the powers bestowed by martial law during the Chiang family rule. There are absolutely no limitations to the committee's tenure, budget or powers, and no one can overturn the selection of committee members. In the future, then, Taiwan will be in the preposterous situation of having one president and 17 emperors.

This situation would even have Chiang Kai-shek and Chiang Ching-kuo -- so severely criticized by Su -- sighing in regret over having lived in the wrong era. It also proves Su's statement that "deceased former presidents are better off than living ones," for Taiwanese presidents these days are indeed better off dead than alive.

Hsu Chia-ching is a Democratic Progressive Party Taipei City Council member.

No sale sign
Taiwan Solidarity Union legislators Lin Chih-lung, left to right, Liao Ben-yan and Hsu Teng-kung protest outside the offices of Broadcasting Corp of China against the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) selling its assets to raise campaign funds .
PHOTO: FANG PIN-CHAO, TAIPEI TIMES