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Managing Chen Shui-bian’s legacy
This month has not been kind to the family of former president Chen Shui-bian
(陳水扁). It began somewhat upbeat on Nov. 5 when the Taipei District Court
returned a not guilty verdict on charges of corruption and money laundering
against Chen and his wife, Wu Shu-jen (吳淑珍). The administration of President Ma
Ying-jeou (馬英九) instantly criticized the ruling, saying Chen and Wu had escaped
a guilty verdict not because they were innocent, but because of a legal mistake.
However, on Nov. 11, Chen and Wu were not so lucky when the Supreme Court upheld
two bribery convictions, sentencing them to 11 years and eight years in prison
for each charge. A few days later on Nov. 16, the Kaohsiung District Court ruled
against Chen’s son, Chen Chih-chung (陳致中), in a libel suit he brought against
Next Magazine, which earlier this year accused him of soliciting a prostitute.
Given its long affiliation with the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), the
demise of the Chen family has been a political bonanza for the Chinese
Nationalist Party (KMT). No sooner did the court issue its Nov. 5 verdict than
the KMT cried foul, declaring anti-corruption a theme for its election rally
planned for yesterday. The Nov. 11 decision only increased the KMT’s indignation
by confirming the injustice of the first not-guilty verdict.
Spin doctors have also used the Chen family’s misfortune to attack others. When
DPP Chairperson and Sinbei City mayoral candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) refused
last week to appear in a public debate with her KMT opponent, Eric Chu (朱立倫), Ma
accused her of ducking questions about Chen.
The KMT brought unprecedented levels of corruption to Taiwan, so its outrage
about the misdeeds of others is laughable, in particular given that Taipei Mayor
Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) of the KMT is embroiled in his own corruption scandal
involving construction projects for the Taipei International Flora Expo. These
scandals have put a bump in his re--election bid. Unless we believe it is merely
a coincidence that the Chen rulings were announced immediately before this
week’s special municipality elections, then recent claims that the courts are
finally acting independently of KMT control are clearly premature.
However, the DPP still has a problem, which is how to protect itself from the
legal and political liabilities attached to its former leader. As a party
chairman, a key ideologue, strategist, spokesman and as by far the DPP’s most
successful candidate for office — winning the Taipei mayorship and the
presidency twice — Chen Shui-bian is so closely identified with the DPP that an
attempt to cut ties would only look disingenuous.
It would also be ungrateful. Chen was once dubbed “the son of Taiwan,” a name he
most certainly earned. A democratic activist who served time prison during the
KMT’s Martial Law era, he worked much of his life to reform a political system
that was oppressive and corrupt. His sacrifices and those of his wife are a
matter of public record.
Tsai’s response to hostile questions concerning the former president have been
precisely correct: She supports Chen Shui-bian’s judicial rights as a citizen
under the Constitution and she respects the judicial process in which he is
tried. In better times, the former president would have agreed.
However, something more is needed and not just an acknowledgment of Chen
Shui-bian’s honorable past. It may be that his greatest legacy will be to show
that truly no one is above the law. There is no room for demagogues in
democracy; and regardless of how successful, well meaning or momentarily
powerful, we are all corruptible. This is the value of adequate checks and
balances in the Constitution. It is also why judicial reform should be high on
the national agenda.
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