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Chen, Hundred Names
and the Rough Waters of Human Rights
The Huffingtonpost
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jack-healey/taiwan-president-chen_b_1449554.html
In the world of human rights, there is always a tension between those in power
and the common folk. There needn't be. In Chinese, the term Lao Mingzi means Old
Hundred Names. It is an idiom that denotes the mass of society, encompassing the
traditional surnames of Chinese culture. Typically, those in power have the
prerogative of respecting or denying the rights of the common people. Still,
there are times when power reverses and the former holders of power find
themselves down among the common people in terms of tenuous agency with regards
to human rights.
Such is the case with former President Chen of Taiwan. Imprisoned, he is
currently tossed by the rough waters of a calculated denial of medical treatment
and subsequent human rights abuses. No wonder President Assad of Syria is
fighting like there is no tomorrow. He might have read the details of President
Chen Shui Bian's treatment by Taiwan's current government, even though Chen was
president from 2000 to 2008.
Chen is in jail for corruption charges, some of which might are real and some
are not, according to international observers and legal observers. Chen is
serving a 19-year sentence for corruption charges (all charges are for
nonviolent offenses). He has served over 1240 days in a cell of sixty square
feet (5x12) and with a continual stream of other prisoners as fellow cellmates.
Water is on for only ten minutes each day. There is no sunlight. There is no
shower. There is no bed, table, or even permitted speaking with other cellmates.
He is permitted 30 minutes of exercise each day. The only regular "amenity" is a
squat toilet.
After complaining of not feeling well for months, he finally got a medical
review on March 6, 2012, because of pressure from 13 members of his opposition
party. The result of the medical review found out why he was not feeling well.
It was the result of having prostate cancer and an acute coronary syndrome
causing reduced blood flows. He discovered from the review that he'd been put on
a benzodiazepine (a class of drugs that includes Valium and involves a high risk
of dependence, as well as a host of other negative side effects). Chen rejected
these drugs and, after undergoing a cardiac catheterization procedure, he was
returned to the same conditions in prison within a days.
Why I am writing about President Chen is that he is at risk of dying in prison
due to the Taiwanese government engaging in willful medical neglect. He is about
to die imprisoned by a government he ran for years because that government will
not grant him the basic human right or reasonable care. I hope the Tom Lantos
Human Rights commission, which has done some fine human rights work, might be
persuaded to intervene with public statements and to use their strength to help
this abused prisoner, even if he is guilty of the corruption charges.
California Representative Dan Lungren has asked this committee to help. What is
hard to understand is why our government as a whole is not upset about another
democratic government mistreating and maybe killing its former president. Is
this not a human right violation by an an enormously important trade partner and
a leading light of contemporary change in the Chinese-speaking world? Why is
this not covered in the press? The illness of the Ukrainian president was
brought to our American attention when it was in the interest of our strategic
plans for that region. Why no coverage for an important trade partner's former
leader who is affiliated with a party currently in opposition? We should stand
for no less than basic human rights for all people. Nobody suggests that former
political officials in the United States be denied medical treatments due to
their political defeat or ending up in custody. I can only hope that we would
stand up for the treatment of anyone else for the same principle of equitable
treatment in custody.
These are the latest facts. And I'd like to be clear in asking you to call your
congressional representatives as soon as you read this. Chen has failed lung
function tests three times since his March 6 health exam. A lesion was spotted
in one lung. He coughs continually. He is short of breath with a constant
feeling of chest pressure. These details were leaked, not publicly released. The
family, contrary to Taiwanese law, has not been given his medical records. On
April 23, 2012, Chen was diagnosed with a second tumor in his prostate. On this
trip to the hospital, he was allowed only a two-hour visit with his family.
Taiwan's laws require better treatment. Chen is not getting this treatment.
Though all his assets are frozen, he nevertheless has to arrange for payment for
his medical procedures.
All I am asking for is good medical treatment of this prisoner. That is it.
Taiwan may not like this former president; they may even hate him. It does not
matter. Taiwan's people and hearts don't need to be with this man simply because
he ran the nation. People should know, and believe, that any prisoner will be
treated like a human being with all the attendant human rights that entails,
including access to medical care. Using a prison system to kill an opponent is
savage and ruthless. The present government of Taiwan must not maim and kill
using the slow and painful death by neglect.
What I am asking you for a letter to the Tom Lantos Committee for Human Rights,
to the White House and to your congressional representatives. If human rights
are to mean anything, if leaders of any government of any kind are to be
encouraged to respect the basic rights of reasonable care, it is imperative to
not have people subjected to imprisonment and the withholding of care as a
tactic of political revenge or grudge-settling.
Taiwan has come a long way to tolerate and respect human rights from its uglier
past of dictatorship. It has, until recently, shown itself to be a beacon of
freedom and human rights in the generally retrograde political world of Chinese
politics with regard to human rights. This does not give it, nor should it give
anyone, the ability to simply opt-out in the treatment of a prisoner's basic
human rights for reasonable medical care.
An email is good. A phone call is better. A follow-up with a physical letter is
best. Please do what you can to safeguard the rights of prisoners of all walks
of life. Nobody should die in prison for lack of access to a medical care system
that can help them live. Human rights should be rights for all humans and not
some humans.
You can find and contact your political representatives in the United States by
looking here:
www.contactingthecongress.org. You should NOT wait to do this. A human
life hangs in the balance. The treatment of those who have been politically
defeated must adhere to minimal standards to make it clear to despots around the
world that loss of power will not lead to death by neglect. The treatment of
humans should adhere to the standards of universal human rights.
Please. Take a moment to make the call and write the letters and emails. A life
hangs in the balance.
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