Protesters slam interference in media affairs
　

By Loa Iok-sin
STAFF REPORTER
Friday, Jan 02, 2009, Page 1
　

Thousands of Taiwan Broadcasting System (TBS) employees and viewers — as well as members of civic groups — took to the streets and formed “human dominoes” outside the Legislative Yuan yesterday to protest against political intervention in media affairs.

“The invisible hand of politics should leave Public Television Service [PTS] alone because it belongs to the public,” Media Watch chairman Kuang Chung-shiang (管中祥) told a crowd gathered on Liberty Square before the start of the parade. “Government institutions such as the Council for Hakka Affairs and the Council of Indigenous Peoples also need to keep their hands off the Hakka and Aboriginal TV stations.”

PTS, Hakka Television Service and Taiwan Indigenous Television Service (TITV) are all affiliates of TBS, which is funded mainly by the government. The law states that the three government-funded channels “belong to the public” and should operate independently.

However, a resolution proposed by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus whip Lin Yi-shih (林益世) and passed last month by a legislative committee states that all TBS program budgets should be reviewed on a case by case basis, raising concern among media reform activists.

The KMT caucus, the Government Information Office (GIO) and the Presidential Office have said that the review will only focus on the budget and not program content. This has failed to convince TBS employees and activists.

“Some lawmakers accused TITV of being anti-[President] Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), claiming that TITV's news reports only attacked Ma and the Council of Indigenous Peoples,” TITV director Masao Aki said, adding that “part of our budgets were frozen by the legislature in 2007 and last year.”

A Hakka Television Service employee, who declined to be named for fear of retaliation, told the Taipei Times that government intervention was evident.

“They [the Council for Hakka Affairs] want to get their hands on everything. They always have something to say about the content of our news programs, they ‘suggest’ what they want to see in our shows. They have even asked us to change the names of some shows that they didn't like,” the TV employee said.

“The former [Democratic Progressive Party] government did sometimes make comments about our programs, but not as much as the present government,” the employee added. “I'm afraid that the problem will only get worse now that they have a legal basis for controlling our budget.”

The demonstrators held signs and shouted slogans calling for the government to keep its hands off the media as they marched to lay “siege” to the legislature.

After surrounding the legislature, the marchers sat on the ground and formed “human dominoes,” with the participants — each holding a sign that read “Save PTS” — lying back on the people behind them.

Citizens Congress Watch executive director and demonstration organizer Ho Tsung-hsun (何宗勳) said the move symbolized people power pushing against all negative things emanating from the legislature.

GIO Minister Su Jun-pin (蘇俊賓) said yesterday that he had stepped in to mediate disagreements between the two sides, hoping to find a mutually satisfying resolution.

Su, however, refused to comment on whether the KMT-backed resolution constituted political intervention, saying there was “still room for discussion.”

Su also defended the KMT's draft resolution, saying what the party wanted was to ensure that management at PTS would be more transparent.

Stress over jobs causing hair loss
　

WORK WORRIES: Doctors in the north, who are seeing an increased number of cases of hair loss, said physical and psychological stress can affect the immune system

STAFF WRITER, WITH CNA
Friday, Jan 02, 2009, Page 2

Stress caused by the fear of becoming unemployed seems to be causing an increasing number of people to lose their hair, with a higher incidence of the condition occurring among women, doctors in northern Taiwan said on Wednesday.

Li Cheng-hung (李承鴻), a dermatologist at the Buddhist Tzu Chi General Hospital in Taipei, told reporters that among his patients, more women than men were suffering from alopecia areata, a skin disorder that causes the hair to fall out in patches.

Citing a typical case, Li said a 20-year-old female worker at an information technology company had developed bald spots from constantly worrying that she might lose her job because her boss might not be happy with her performance.

SIX MONTHS

Li said it took more than six months of treatment, using a combination of methods, for the woman’s hair to grow back.

He said that psychological and physical stress can disrupt a person’s immune system and destroy the hair follicles, resulting in hair loss.

The skin doctor advised people with such a problem to consult a hospital dermatologist instead of seeking other unconventional treatments.

TREATMENT

He said a dermatologist would usually assess a patient’s condition before giving localized treatment, prescribing medicines or using pulse therapy — a short, intensive administration of pharmacotherapy.

At Chang Gung Memorial Hospital’s Linkou branch, another skin doctor, Huang Yao-li (黃耀立), confirmed that the number of hair loss patients was on the rise, probably because of the growing stress of everyday life.

“The skin and hair are like a mirror that can reflect the degree of stress a person is experiencing,” he said, adding that in addition to seeking medical treatment, patients need to learn how to cope with stress.

Although emotional stress is believed to be a contributing factor to alopecia, it is not fully understood what the primary cause of the condition is.

Some researchers believe that genetic factors play an important role, since there is a higher incidence of alopecia areata among people who have a family history of the disorder.

DPP chair cautions against direct links
　

SLIPPERY ROAD: Tsai Ing-wen says that it is necessary to establish ‘across-the-board’ countermeasures to ensure that the transportation ties do not have a negative impact

STAFF WRITER, WITH CNA
Friday, Jan 02, 2009, Page 3

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said yesterday that recently established direct links with China could have a negative impact on Taiwan’s economy and urged the government not to overlook this.

Tsai made the comments after visiting a temple in Taipei to pray for peace and prosperity.

While conceding that direct cross-strait links could help decrease travel time and costs across the Strait, she urged the government not to be overly optimistic about the possible advantages and said that Taiwan’s economy could suffer and unemployment could continue to rise as a result of the links.

“It is contradictory for the government to try to protect the Republic of China’s national sovereignty and dignity under the framework of the direct cross-strait links,” she said.

Taiwan must devise comprehensive measures to deal with complications related to unemployment and national security, she said.

“Only when across-the-board countermeasures have been fully implemented could long-term benefits be derived from cross-strait links,” she said.

Turning to President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) New Year’s speech, in which he called for all Taiwanese to work together to improve the economy, Tsai said the DPP had no particular stance on the issue, but she reminded the president that it was the government’s responsibility to create job opportunities for future generations rather than leave them with growing debts.

Tsai said the DPP would help lead Taiwan out of its current woes and explore new ways to improve the nation through social activities.

On Taiwan-China relations, Tsai reiterated her Taiwan-centric position and urged the government to exercise caution in its exchanges with China.

“Taiwan should never harbor wishful thinking regarding China because Beijing has never softened its position regarding Taiwan, especially on the issue of Taiwan’s sovereignty,” she said.

On Chinese President Hu Jintao’s (胡錦濤) suggestion on Tuesday that Taiwan and China could discuss the establishment of a mechanism to build military trust with a view to ending hostilities between the two sides, Tsai urged the government to cautiously gauge the proposal because military issues were just one aspect of the two-way relationship.

The reality of a one-trick president
　

By Jerome Keating
Friday, Jan 02, 2009, Page 8

‘Ma’s phoniness has always been there for anyone willing to look for it over the years, but now gullible Taiwanese and perhaps even the rest of the world are beginning to see the reality of Taiwan’s one-trick pony.’

“The horse does not know how long his face is.”

This Chinese saying applies to President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and the responsibility he bears for Taiwan’s growing human rights problems and erosion of justice — all this after barely seven months into his tenure.

No, Ma may not know how long his face is, but more and more of Taiwan’s citizens do, as well as international organizations.

A quick way to see the greater degree of abuse under Ma is to examine the differences in how the accused were treated in three high-profile cases under former presidents Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) and Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and contrast them with Chen’s treatment under Ma.

Let’s start with the case of James Soong (宋楚瑜), a former provincial governor and the founder of the People First Party (PFP).

During Lee’s tenure, Soong was not only indicted but found guilty of money-laundering and misuse of funds on several occasions.

Was he handcuffed and hauled off to jail prior to any indictments being issued against him, as happened to Chen? Was Soong held incommunicado like Chen? Was Soong even jailed after being found guilty?

No. Soong always enjoyed the freedom to meet and strategize with whomever he wanted. In the end, what horrendous punishment was given to him? He paid back taxes on undeclared income and went on to tour the many properties he owns in the US.

Next, let’s look at the money-laundering case involving Ma, who was indicted during Chen’s time as president.

Ma never suffered the indignities meted out to Chen.

Was Ma cuffed? Was Ma held incommunicado? No.

He was not only allowed to walk around freely and consult with all of his staff and potentially his fellow indictees, but also to announce his run for the presidency.

Not bad, not bad at all.

Of course, Ma was found not guilty, but what most people forget is that Ma’s secretary was found guilty of money-laundering and putting around half a million NT dollars into Ma’s account.

That secretary is now in jail. Ah, yes, what politician would not wish to have such a loyal secretary?

Given that Chen was cuffed, taken to a detention center and held incommunicado some six months after he left the Presidential Office — without being indicted — it takes some nerve to say that all are still equal before the law.

Prosecutors have tried to justify their actions by saying they were afraid Chen would threaten witnesses and/or would flee the country.

But even Ma’s former law professor and mentor, Jerome Cohen, has criticized the large number of arrests of Democratic Progressive Party figureheads without indictment.

Stretching the spirit of the presumption of innocence, the prosecutors swore that they would resign if they could not indict Chen before the end of the year.

If threatening witnesses or fleeing the country were serious options, Chen had ample time to take them up.

After Chen was indicted, weeks after his detention, he was released without bail — but the prosecutors would not let go. They continued to demand imprisonment, and got their way after three attempts — which required the removal of the Taipei District Court judge who did not take their concerns very seriously.

These high-profile examples are the tip of the iceberg.

The more telling development is how, in a scant seven months, numerous human rights organizations have protested what is happening under the Ma administration. This volume of protest never happened during the 12 years of Lee’s presidency or during the eight years of Chen’s. But Ma has managed to pull it off within a year.

The organizations, international and local, that have protested include Amnesty International, Reporters without Borders, the International Federation of Human Rights, Freedom House, the Taiwan Bar Association, the Taipei Bar Association and Judicial Reform Foundation, the Taiwan Association of Human Rights, the Formosan Association of Human Rights, the Presbyterian Church of Taiwan, the Canadian Human Rights Association, 15 US congressmen, a joint statement by 20 academics and writers from around the world, the North American Taiwanese Professors Association, the Taiwan Association of University Professors and Taiwan’s Wild Strawberry Student Movement.

This is quite an impressive list of objectors at a time when most newly elected politicians enjoy a perfunctory honeymoon period.

No, “the horse does not know how long his face is,” and he is doing his best not to look in the mirror. All that remains for Ma is to control the media — but then, hasn’t this already started?

Ma’s phoniness has always been there for anyone willing to look for it over the years, but now gullible Taiwanese and perhaps even the rest of the world are beginning to see the reality of Taiwan’s one-trick pony.

The other day, I was talking to a friend who said that Ma’s growing incompetence pointed to behavior that has long gone out of fashion. The only trick left that Ma knows is how to run to China.

He parted the Red Sea of Chinese tourism, but despite all the promises, virtually no one has come through to bring relief to Taiwan’s economic woes.

Those in the know knew it would fail even if thousands did come; their poor numbers, however, have only exacerbated Ma’s image of incompetence.

With such poor strategy and pitiful results, the Ma administration can only seek refuge in even more outlandish promises while wallowing in the wishes of yesteryear.

Jerome Keating is a writer based in Taipei.