Protesters call for Diane Lee sacking
　

By Jimmy Chuang and Flora Wang
STAFF REPORTERS
Saturday, Jan 10, 2009, Page 1
　

Independence supporters surrounded the Legislative Yuan yesterday, protesting what they called the body’s inaction against former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator Diane Lee (李慶安) over her alleged dual nationality.

The protesters insisted that the legislature formally remove Lee from her post, in addition to her resignation a day earlier.

Lee is suspected of holding US citizenship in violation of the Nationality Act (國籍法), but has said that she automatically lost her US citizenship when she was sworn in as a Taipei City councilor 14 years ago.

She has been under increasing pressure since the results of a US government citizenship check last month said that Lee “has previously been documented as a US citizen with a US passport and … no subsequent loss of US citizenship has been documented.”

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers yesterday joined the protesters, asking Lee to repay her salary from 1994 to the present day.

“Her resignation does not mean she has been relieved of her position,” DPP caucus whip William Lai (賴清德) said. “The DPP request reflects public opinion.”

Echoing Lai, DPP Legislator Chen Ting-fei (陳亭妃) urged prosecutors to seize Lee’s assets as soon as possible.

“Lee has earned more than NT$100 million [US$3 million] since her first term as a Taipei City councilor. Her assets report says she possesses more than NT$100 million and prosecutors should immediately freeze her assets so she will not be able to avoid paying back all the money,” Chen said.

Lai said that the DPP legislative caucus urged Lee to return her salary and accept full legal responsibility for her actions.

Tsai Ting-kuei (蔡丁貴), chairman of the Taiwan Association of University Professors, which organized the demonstration, said resignation and dismissal were legally different. Only if Lee were stripped of her post would the government be able to reclaim the salary she received during her time in public office, Tsai said.

Despite yesterday’s low turnout, Tsai said the demonstration would continue until the legislature “fulfills its duty.”

A crowd began to form in front of the Legislative Yuan at around 10am. The police issued three warnings asking the crowd to disperse as the protest had not received prior approval. Minor clashes then took place as officers began to remove the protesters.

The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office yesterday confirmed it had issued a summons to Lee, asking her to report to prosecutors at 10am on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, inside the pan-blue dominated legislature, lawmakers voted 54 to 26 against the DPP’s motion to prioritize its proposal that the legislature relieve Lee of her seat.

The legislature also voted 58 to 26 against another DPP motion that it unseat KMT Legislator Mark Li (李明星).

Asked for comment, Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) said the Legislative Yuan could not unseat Lee because she had tendered her resignation and had been removed from the legislature’s list of lawmakers.

He added that the legislature had also submitted related documentation to the Central Election Commission.

KMT caucus secretary-general Chang Sho-wen (張碩文) shared similar views.

“Their target no longer exists [in the legislature]. How can the legislature unseat [her]?” Chang asked reporters.

KMT Legislator Wu Den-yih (吳敦義), who doubles as a KMT vice chairman, questioned the legitimacy of the demonstration.

“Do they really have to disregard the law like this?” Wu said. “The legislature’s 113 lawmakers are elected representatives. Pan-green supporters should not besiege the legislature at the instigation of DPP [Chairperson] Tsai [Ing-wen (蔡英文)],” Wu said.

Presidential Office spokesman Wang Yu-chi (王郁琦) yesterday denied that President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) had called Lee to advise her to give up her legislative seat.

KMT Chairman Wu Poh-­hsiung (吳伯雄) also denied calling Lee and said as far as he knew, the president never phoned her either.

However, Wu panned the pan-green supporters protesting in front of the legislature, saying the demonstration was merely a smoke screen to deflect attention from former president Chen Shui-bian’s (陳水扁) corruption case.

Accusations about Lee’s nationality status first came to light in March last year, when the Chinese-language Next Magazine reported she still had a US passport.
　

AI Taiwan protests Gaza attacks
　

SYMPATHIES: The Israeli representative said that Amnesty International had already shown its bias by staging a demonstration in front of the Israeli office
　

By Loa Iok-sin
STAFF REPORTER
Saturday, Jan 10, 2009, Page 2
　

Dozens of protesters mobilized by Amnesty International (AI) Taiwan and several other civic groups in the country staged a demonstration near the Israeli representative office in Taipei yesterday, demanding that Israel stop its military actions in the Gaza Strip.

“We cannot but feel the horror of the effects of so much bombardment and ground fire on the Gaza civilians, who have already suffered gravely from your government's blockade of even humanitarian aid and supplies,” said AI Taiwan chairman Peter Huang (黃文雄), reading an open letter to Israeli President Shimon Peres in English, before handing the letter to a staffer at the Israeli office.

“This does not mean, of course, that our feelings of moral horror does not extend to the lost lives of Israeli civilians,” Huang said. “On the contrary, it is for the sake of preventing more lives from being lost and for the possible beginning of a more durable peace that we're writing to you.”

Israel launched its latest offensive on Dec. 27 in an attempt to halt rocket fire from the Hamas-controlled territory.

According to wire reports, 22 Israelis have been killed in Hamas rocket attacks, while more than 760 Palestinians — mostly civilians — have lost their lives since Israel began the mass offensive.

Hung Hung (鴻鴻), a poet, read three poems during the protest — one by Israeli poet Yehuda Amichai that tells how Israeli civilians suffer from Hamas attacks, another by Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish that recounts how a Palestinian mother mourns the death of her son after the Israeli offensive, and a third one that he wrote himself, describing his joy upon learning of the withdrawal of Israeli troops in 2002.

The reading was followed by a minute of silence for those who have lost their lives in the conflict.

A staffer from the Israeli representative office came out of the building to accept the protest letter from the demonstrators.

Meanwhile, Israeli Representative Raphael Gamzou criticized AI for not fully disclosing its intention when it asked for a meeting, but added that his invitation for an open dialogue remained.

Gamzou said the group failed to conduct itself with “integrity” and that the Israeli office only found out about the demonstration from local law enforcement authorities.

He said that by lodging a protest in front of the Israeli office, AI had already shown its bias.

The office had expected the group to present an anti-violence petition.

Gamzou said although he respects the group, he declined to meet with AI officers because he refused to be an “actor in their sitcom” as he was never informed by the group it was planning to stage a demonstration.

During the eight-year-long Hamas-initiated attacks against Israeli civilians, he said he never saw “any expressions of anger and sadness from Amnesty International Taiwan or any local NGOs.”
　

If Studs Terkel were a curmudgeon
　

Editor’s note: Johnny Neihu is on assignment. The following transcripts appeared on the editor’s desk just before deadline in a taped-up plastic bag bought at Carrefour.

By Johnny Neihu 強尼內湖
Saturday, Jan 10, 2009, Page 8

Taxi Driver No. 1: Johnny, I don’t know what you think, but as far as I see it we’re screwed. The economy is stuffed. I drive 13 hours a day just to cover gas, car costs and maybe a few hundred NT dollars for food.

Johnny: Take a right up here, buddy.

Driver: What, at the lights?

Johnny: No, the alley before the lights. We can beat two sets of lights on Renai Road that way.

Driver: You’re the boss. Anyway, my friend, I’m hearing some stories in my cab that would really worry you. People losing jobs, families without essential income, you know, good people that never did anything wrong, saved all their money, put the kids through school, decent people. It’s all fucked up.

Johnny: I thought all the main job losses were in the IT sector.

Driver: Nah, Johnny, it’s all over the damn place. How’s “the lady indoors”?

Johnny: Still waiting for her to come home. She’s been in Taitung for some time now.

Driver: Trying to drum up some business?

Johnny: If only. By the way, I have a tip for your colleagues on how to get more business.

Driver: What’s that?

Johnny: Don’t honk at potential customers as if to say, “Look at me, I’m a taxi cab.”



Taxi Driver No. 2: Where to, pal?

Johnny: I dunno. What’s on offer?

Driver: What?

Johnny: Just kidding. Take me to the Linsen N Road Golden Happy Phoenix Massage Emporium, and make it snappy, I’m up for a good workover.

Driver: I know a better one up on Changchun Road. The girls are younger and cuter and do extras for nothing extra, know what I mean? Nice big titties, no rough lookers. Know what I mean?

Johnny: I’m sure I don’t. Anyway, I’m a regular at Golden Happy Phoenix. They treat me fine ... Say, did you just sideswipe that little girl?

Driver: She’ll live. She wasn’t hot, so who gives a shit?

Johnny: You know, she kind of reminded me of photos of my gal Cathy Pacific when she was a little cherub.

[Driver turns up radio, which has the hourly news bulletin.]

Johnny: Can you turn that down? It’s booming through my head like a high speed rail train in a tunnel. The bass is up too high.

Driver: You need to get some of that ginseng essence in you, it’s good for old-timers like you.

Johnny: Thanks for the suggestion, but I’d prefer it if you just turned the damn radio down. [Pause] It doesn’t help when it’s all about bullshit legislators bullshitting everyone about bullshit.

Driver: You think you’re better than them, eh?

Johnny: Well ... yes. But maybe not as rich. Certainly much better looking.

Driver: We’re here. That’s NT$210.

Johnny: That should be NT$190. I got in the cab before 11pm.

Driver: Well why don’t you just pay NT$190, then, you old fart. I’ll treat you the difference.

Johnny: You know, assholes like you should remember not to be such obvious assholes when you let someone out in front of his favorite massage parlor. This isn’t the 1990s and I know your cab company. You don’t have 50 friends waiting to back you up with baseball bats. But that guy at the door is a friend of mine and he has one or two friends behind that tastefully opaque window who will make you learn how to be professional and courteous. “Know what I mean?”

Driver: Why don’t you go and do your mother!

Johnny: Well, Mama Neihu was pretty cute in her day. Not that cute, though. Now piss off and go find yourself some nice big titties before I have your damn cab torched.



Taxi Driver No. 3: [Heavy Hoklo accent] So what do you think of Ma Ying-jeou [馬英九], then?

Johnny: I dunno. [Looks around for evidence of driver’s political affiliation, fails and sighs] He could be doing better.

Driver: I think he’s terrible. I was just telling my laopo last night that she should never have voted for him, that she was taken in by all of his nice clothes and nice-sounding words and that he hasn’t got a clue.

Johnny: Well, there’s probably more to the government’s problems than just President Ma ...

Driver: ... and then I said, who’s this prissy little momma’s boy and how did he get to be so big, eh? I’ll tell you, it’s because of those KMT China ass kissers, that’s why. They tread on us Taiwanese and take our money and now they’re going to sell us out. Just you watch them do it.

Johnny: I don’t mean to be argumentative, but President Ma was elected with a convincing majority in a free and fair election.

Driver: Brainwashing! It was brainwashing. It’s all those political talkshows and people get addicted to them and they have no idea what they’re thinking.

Johnny: Do you watch political talkshows?

Driver: Yeah, the ones where they know what they’re talking about.

Johnny: I must have missed those. Anyway, what do you make of the fact that much more than half of the KMT party machine can’t stand Ma Ying-jeou?

Driver: Uh ...

Johnny: Or the fact that more than half of Ma’s support came from us benshengren? I mean, we can’t all have been brainwashed.

Driver: That’s because most of those guys got bribed to vote for the KMT.

Johnny: Maybe. Either way, my friend, you’re not giving me any reason to feel confident about the future. Why don’t we just dispense with politics and you just turn on your mobile karaoke installation there and we sing a song instead, eh?

Driver: Any preferences?

Johnny: Something ... tragic.



Taxi Driver No. 4: You been following A-bian’s [陳水扁] detention?

Johnny: As little as possible. I might be a journalist, but I’m not suicidally depressed and I don’t care for hourly updates on a person sitting on his ass in a cell writing his next book.

Driver: You know that he’s guilty, right?

Johnny: Not exactly, no.

Driver: Course he is.

Johnny: If you say so.

Driver: He’s the worst thing that happened to this country. People were at each other’s throats. Ethnic hatred, yeah, all that. And speaking of suicide, did you know that the suicide rate hit a record high under A-bian?

Johnny: No. Did you do some research to establish this?

Driver: I’m too busy working to do that. But there was a report that said so.

Johnny: Uh huh. I notice on your license here that your surname is Chang [章]. Do you feel offended as a member of the Chang clan that [KMT Legislator] John Chiang [蔣孝嚴] took on his father’s name to trade on the Chiang family’s heritage?

Driver: Of course not. Both family names have glorious reputations in this country.

Johnny: Could you pull over? I think I need to purge my stomach for a few minutes.



Taxi Driver No. 5: Hello, where are we going today?

Johnny: Home to Neihu, please.

Driver: Certainly. Busy night?

Johnny: Oh, you know, the usual. Drinking too much, stopping friends from getting into fights, getting punched trying to pay the check, throwing up in the pot plants outside the bar.

Driver: Sounds like fun.

Johnny: If you’ll excuse me for sounding a little frisky, you must be one of the two or three lady taxi drivers who ply our good streets of an evening.

Driver: I think it’s more than that, but no, there aren’t many of us.

Johnny: My dear, it’s an honor and a pleasure to be in your vehicle. Does your husband ... I assume you’re married?

Driver: Yes. Nearly 20 years.

Johnny: Does your husband work at night?

Driver: No, he sleeps. He does the day shift in the cab and I do nights.

Johnny: I’ve heard about couples like you. This must have an effect on your, uh, “relationship” ... I hope you’ll forgive me, laobanniang, I’m a little drunk. A lot drunk, actually.

Driver: No need to be so courteous. I’m used to it. Anyway, two of our three kids were probably conceived in the back seat of a cab. So it’s not inappropriate.

Johnny: I never thought a cab could make you so horny.

Driver: There are limits. You always ask yourself: “Can I pull one off before the meter goes up?”

Johnny: You know, I have to say, after hearing you say that, I’ve never been more proud to be Taiwanese.
　

Johnny Neihu's Mailbag

Saturday, Jan 10, 2009, Page 8
A woolly good idea

Dear Johnny,

My name is Bill, and although I am not Taiwanese, I live in your beautiful country and enjoy your incredible culture.

Taiwan to me, is a very Unique Country and different to any other I have traveled in. It is safe, clean and free. You also have (or did have) freedom of the press, where everyone can have a say and voice their opinion, and Taiwanese people love to do this, which adds to this vibrant and energetic lifestyle you have here.

So anyway, as I was descending Yushan the other day in my nice warm Merino woollen jersey, I had an idea.

I know a local lady that can knit very interesting and realistic creatures. I love them; she has great imagination. So I was wondering: Would it be possible for her to knit and sew two beautiful panda suits — one for President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and one for his deputy?

We could put them in the zoo, and send the real Yuan-yuan and Tuan-tuan back to China where they belong. I know the zoo would lose a lot of money, but my friend would gain heaps from all the advertising.

I am sure President Ma would be happy. She could even knit him a little flag of his choice to wave to the crowds.

Oh well, just an idea.

If this seems a bit too difficult, could we just call the bears “Ma” and “Pa” and knit them both a woolly jumper, and some nice cuddly toys?

A KIWI

PS: I love the deep green color for the woolly jumper.

Johnny replies: In my homeland, there is no such thing as too cute. I strongly endorse your suggestion, and would suggest your friend set up a stall outside Taipei Zoo.