Civic groups hold protest over lawsuit against CCW
　

By Loa Iok-sin
STAFF REPORTER
Thursday, Feb 05, 2009, Page 3
　

Dozens of civic group members yesterday rallied outside the Taipei District Court as prosecutors questioned Citizen Congress Watch (CCW) executive director Ho Tsung-hsun (何宗勳) about a slander lawsuit filed by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Tsai Chin-lung (蔡錦隆).

“We condemn lawmakers who file lawsuits against watchdog groups. Instead, they should face public scrutiny with honesty,” National Union of Taiwan Women’s Associations chairwoman Chen Man-li (陳曼麗) told demonstrators outside the courthouse yesterday morning.

“We urge Tsai to withdraw the lawsuit. You may have ranked last [in CCW’s evaluation of lawmakers], but you won’t stay there if you work hard enough,” Chen said.

EVALUATION

The CCW held the first evaluation of lawmakers in August, in which more than 100 people including students, journalists, academics and representatives from civic groups assigned scores to lawmakers by reviewing their attendance, number of legislative proposals and misconduct.

Tsai filed a slander lawsuit against Ho and CCW chairman Ku Chung-hwa (顧忠華) after he was ranked last among legislators in the Internal Administration Committee. Tsai has accused the CCW of bias and said the evaluation was not transparent.

PRECEDENTS

This was not the first time Ho and Ku have been sued by lawmakers.

In July, the two were sued by KMT Legislator Chen Ken-te (陳根德) for slander, when the CCW made a mistake regarding Chen Ken-te’s attendance record because the legislature did not release information about a classified meeting he had attended.

They were not indicted.

In September, Chiu Yi (邱毅) sued Ho and Ku after being awarded the lowest ranking in the CCW’s evaluation. The CCW later established that a miscalculation had been made during the evaluation and apologized to Chiu, whereupon he withdrew the lawsuit.

Despite the lawsuits, the CCW and its supporters remain determined to monitor the legislature.

“In a legislature where one party has absolute majority, it’s hard to imagine what it would be like if there were no watchdog organizations such as the CCW. It reminds the lawmakers who their bosses are,” Buddhist Master Shih Chao-hui (釋昭慧) said yesterday, adding that the lawsuits were a waste of resources in the judiciary.

“Lawmakers who receive the lowest rankings should just step down,” she said.

Before walking into the courthouse, Ho told the crowd that Tsai had made many negative comments about the CCW.

“I think we should be the ones who are suing for defamation,” Ho said.

Despite the protest, Tsai declined to drop the lawsuit.

“The CCW’s evaluation and its neutrality are questionable. Therefore, I will not withdraw the lawsuit,” he said.

Preserving editorial independence

Thursday, Feb 05, 2009, Page 8

Amid reports that newspapers such as the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times are selling assets and cutting jobs came news that China is pumping more money into enhancing its media influence abroad.

China’s International Herald Leader reported on Tuesday that Chinese authorities had approved a budget of 45 billion yuan (US$6.58 billion) to launch a worldwide propaganda campaign.

As part of a public relations strategy to boost China’s public image, the money will be used to acquire media outlets in the West, enhance the overseas influence of China Central Television, the People’s Daily and Xinhua news agency, and possibly establish a round-the-clock English-language news channel like that run by al-Jazeera, the report said.

While it remains to be seen whether investment by China would erode journalistic standards in the West, it is foreseeable that, considering the attractive sums it is likely to offer, China’s stakes in overseas media will grow. Beijing could, for example, seek to invest in — and influence — Taiwanese media through Hong Kong companies.

Concerns have already been raised that some companies investing in Taiwanese media are linked to China.

Former vice president Annette Lu (呂秀蓮), for one, is well aware of the power of the media. On Sunday, she appealed for funds to start an afternoon newspaper to be called the Formosa Post. Lu said she hoped to raise at least NT$200 million (US$6.25 million) to launch the paper in July and “make the voice of Taiwan heard.” But many are skeptical of her plan, given the relatively low funding being sought.

Coincidentally — or perhaps not — figures released by the National Communications Commission on Monday showed the political talk show Da Hua News (大話新聞), known for its pro-localization stance, was the TV program that received the most complaints from viewers last year.

Among the complaints were that Da Hua News provided “false” statistics about the state of the nation’s economy and made “sensational remarks” without evidence, the commission said, without providing further details.

Some political observers are concerned that the commission’s statistics were cooked up to intimidate the makers of the show.

It is rare for the commission to produce such information and the announcement followed on the heels of speculation that the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) was opposed to the show’s host, Cheng Hung-yi (鄭弘儀), an outspoken critic of government policies.

While it remains to be seen whether the KMT government will seek to influence Da Hua News, there is no question that Beijing has awakened to the potential of the Information Age. The media hold a powerful key to influencing public opinion and shaping its image.

The KMT has a long tradition of controlling domestic media. Now the question is, will it protect the nation’s media outlets and let them freely voice varying opinions or will it support China’s agenda and suppress Taiwan’s voice?

Don’t honor a murderer

It is truly unconscionable for the administration of President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) to change the name plaque on National Taiwan Democracy Memorial Hall back to Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) Memorial Hall. I hope people in Taiwan will not allow this switch but will tell Ma and his diehard Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) followers: “Enough is enough.”

Vice Minister of Education Lu Mu-lin (呂木琳) said the decision was in accordance with the law and a resolution passed by the Legislative Yuan. But the public and the whole world know that these laws and perhaps others were passed by the tyrannical majority of KMT legislators, who are ignorant of history and, in my opinion, have some mental disorder.

The whole world knows Chiang was a dictator who massacred thousands of innocent people who were critical of his regime. Yet Taiwanese were forced to worship their murderer for decades as if he were their savior.

Imagine if Jewish people were forced to worship or otherwise commemorate Hitler?

I would like to remind Ma and his cohorts that in today’s world, if Chiang were alive, he would probably be charged with crimes against humanity.

Furthermore, Ma should know that Chinese leader Mao Zedong (毛澤東) listed Chiang as the people’s No. 1 war criminal. Chiang would not necessarily be welcome in China today.

Presidential Office Spokesman Wang Yu-chi (王郁琦) has said the name change by the Democratic Progressive Party administration was illegal.

My question to the Ma administration is this: Was Chiang’s slaughtering of thousands of innocent people legal? It must have been, because the government is still trying to defend Chiang and restore his infamous name at the hall. What twisted logic.

Furthermore, why did the Ma administration go back on its promise to hold a public forum on the name of the hall before changing it? The reason is simple: The administration could not tolerate dissenting opinions that might have jeopardized its decision.

I hope the opposition parties will shoulder the responsibility to educate the public by holding a series of forums or town hall meetings where politicians, academics and members of the public can participate, debate their opinions and make suggestions on a variety of issues, including the hall’s pending name change.

KRIS LIAO
San Francisco, California

Ma’s impotence is the real problem
　

By Jerome Keating
Thursday, Feb 05, 2009, Page 8

‘Ma remains a guppy, believing his own hype that he can swim with the sharks, and herein lies the real danger for Taiwan. Both Chinese and US strategists inflate his image and support his impotency because they know they can manipulate him.’

LIKE THE KINGDOM of the Fisher King in T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land, Taiwan is suffering from a deep malaise. Its problem is that President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) is impotent: impotent as a leader and impotent in the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT). Because of this, he is impotent to make any long-term constructive contributions to the nation. He can only talk.

Ma watchers sensed this long ago. When Ma was Taipei mayor, they noted that his predecessor Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) had run a much tighter ship. The observation was reinforced in July 2005, when Ma became KMT chairman and made two empty promises: that he would divest the KMT of its illegal assets and that he would push Taiwan’s needed arms budget in the KMT-controlled Legislative Yuan.

Despite the fact that his party has always controlled the legislature, he failed miserably on both counts.

KMT stalwarts were disappointed in 2005 when Ma got enough of the young vote to beat Lien Chan (連戰) for chairmanship of the party, but they bided their time. They knew they controlled the assets and money of the party and that Ma not only couldn’t touch them, but would eventually need them.

When the KMT won a veto-overriding two-thirds majority in last year’s legislative elections, the return of its corrupting power was evident even before the presidential poll. With veto-overriding power, it mattered little to KMT legislators whether Ma or his Democratic Progressive Party rival Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) would win the presidency.

Though they preferred the weak Ma, they felt they would be able to override either candidate once in office. Four KMT legislators even felt bold enough to storm Gestapo-like into Hsieh’s campaign headquarters, order people around and demand the rent be raised.

So last March, when pundits abroad oohed and aahed at Ma’s rise to power, those who knew his weak character could see the writing on the wall. Seven months later, Freedom House wrote an open letter, highlighting that human rights were in danger of being lost because of Ma’s lack of leadership and control.

Ma can only talk, and one way he seeks to hide his impotence is by talking out of both sides of his mouth and on both sides of the fence.

Some say: “Well, at least he can claim he is right 50 percent of the time.” Others complain about his vacillation. Regardless, most people realize you cannot trust much of what Ma says.

During China’s crackdown in Tibet last March, Ma said Taiwan should show its support for Tibet by not sending its athletes to the Olympics. A week later, Ma wished them well as they left for the Olympics and approved the insulting name “Chinese Taipei.”

During his presidential campaign, Ma sought the religious vote, firmly supporting the Dalai Lama and freedom of religion. But later, when the Dalai Lama expressed the desire to visit Taiwan, Ma — fearful of offending China — said: “Don’t call us, we’ll call you.”

Concerning Tokyo, Ma has alternately stated he is ready to go to war with Japan over the Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台) and that Taiwan and Japan enjoy long, unshaken, friendly relations that should be built on.

On Taiwan’s sovereignty, Ma says he supports it, yet hides the country’s flag when representatives from China come. Is Taiwan an area of China, a region, a state or a country? It depends on when Ma speaks and to whom.

Ma’s impotency is further evident in the way he avoids responsibility and unpleasant decisions that might tarnish his fabricated image. Even the pan-blue media supported by Ma’s party refer to him as the “little white rabbit who does not want to get his paws dirty.”

In tough situations, Ma is quick to opt out and say: “That concerns the Constitution, or the judiciary or anyone else but me.”

When Minister of Justice Wang Ching-feng (王清峰) condoned a skit that constituted a breach of professionalism by prosecutors, Ma’s response was: “I don’t want to interfere.”

When Ma cannot avoid action, he lets others do his dirty work for him. His secretary is languishing in jail for laundering approximately US$500,000 into Ma’s savings account. When Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait Chairman Chen Yunlin (陳雲林) visited, Ma unleashed 7,000 police to deal with protesters.

When he isn’t busy avoiding things, Ma takes credit where it is not due. In his New Year’s address he said his administration had brought the Control Yuan up to speed.

“In the past six months, the Control Yuan and the Examination Yuan have rapidly returned to normal operations and the five-branch structure stipulated in the Constitution is thus once again functioning,” he said.

What Ma did not say is that the reason two branches of government had not been functioning was because the KMT had blocked appointments to those bodies for more than three years. The KMT stymied justice until it could fill the seats with its people.

About the only real action Ma has taken responsibility for is running to China to solve the nation’s problems. Ma has assembled a bunch of gullible “gee-whiz kids” who, when they are not fawning all over Ma, provide him with half-baked schemes. They convinced Ma that by opening the doors to China he could raise GDP growth from 5.7 percent under Chen Shui-bian to at least 6 percent — part of his infamous 6-3-3 promise.

Unfortunately, these gee-whiz kids, who are lost in their dreams of grandeur, were ignorant of developments in the real world. Ma even conceded at a conference last November that they were out of touch with reality and that the nation would be lucky to see even 2 percent growth.

China continues to pour out tainted products, while its GDP growth is sinking because of the global recession. Taiwanese factories in China are closing. Social unrest there is on the rise. The crowds of Chinese tourists Ma said would come to Taiwan failed to materialize, yet Ma insists his plan is working.

As a result, in addition to being subservient to the KMT old guard, Ma is at the mercy of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to throw him a few crumbs. When those crumbs are thrown, we are sure to hear Ma boast.

Ma remains a guppy, believing his own hype that he can swim with the sharks, and herein lies the real danger for Taiwan. Both Chinese and US strategists inflate his image and support his impotency because they know they can manipulate him. Knowingly or not, Ma has become the perfect shill for their agendas — and at Taiwan’s expense.

Chinese hegemony remains one of the nation’s major problems, but Ma’s impotency is a far greater worry. With his image-dependent psyche, his fakery and his need for self-approval, Ma can only depend on gloss.

The Holy Grail of Taiwan’s democracy and sovereignty suffers. There is no Galahad at hand and perhaps there should not be. Maybe, instead of looking to one person, the Taiwanese should turn to themselves to strengthen their identity, culture and institutions.

Jerome Keating is a writer based in Taipei.