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People in power must
lobby with great care
By Chen Chih-chung 陳致中
The Special Investigation Division (SID) has accused Legislative Speaker Wang
Jin-pyng (王金平) of calling former minister of justice Tseng Yung-fu (曾勇夫) and
“lobbying” him. The news sent shockwaves through the country and the nation’s
political world reeled.
Immediately, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) announced his shock and horror at the
allegations and the next day he issued a public statement ordering Wang to
return immediately from his trip abroad to explain himself.
Shortly after, the Presidential Office called a press conference in which Ma
spoke — with rarely heard gravity — about how Taiwan was on a dangerous course,
and how that day was “the most shameful day in the development of democracy and
the rule of law in Taiwan.”
He roundly criticized his Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) colleague Wang,
saying: “Each one of us needs to ask ourselves, if this is not lobbying, then
what is? If powerful people can lobby and influence the judiciary, how can
ordinary people be assured of judicial justice?”
People are incensed when powerful figures try to influence the judiciary.
However, the case against Wang is based on inferences made from conversations
obtained through surveillance and hasty conclusions. The case will be viewed
differently in the political realm than in a legal setting.
If Ma believes Wang’s telephone conversations constitute improper lobbying,
perhaps he is being hypocritical.
On Nov. 5, 2010, Taipei District Court Judge Chou Chan-chun (周占春) declared
former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) not guilty of the charges against him in
connection with the second financial reform.
Two days later, Ma — in his capacity as president — openly discussed the case,
criticizing the not-guilty verdict in the strongest of terms. He said: “The
judiciary should be independent, but it cannot be isolated, neither can it shy
away from the reasonable expectations that the public has of it.”
On Nov. 9, he held a banquet at the Presidential Office, to which he invited the
premier, the vice premier, the legislative speaker, the deputy speaker, the
president and vice president of the Judicial Yuan, the secretaries-general of
those institutions, the minister of justice and the prosecutor-general. During
the dinner he said: “Respecting the law does not equate to ignoring the
disappointment and anger the general public feels about the judges that deliver
verdicts that fail to meet the reasonable expectations the people have of them.
I have heard what people have had to say, and I have taken note.”
On that occasion Ma announced that the SID had already decided to appeal the
verdict on the second financial reform case.
Then on Nov. 11, the Supreme Court convicted Chen — in a move unprecedented for
such a complex and highly contentious case — sending the former president, who
had already been detained for a long time, to jail.
Perhaps this is what Ma meant when he talked of meeting the public’s reasonable
expectations. Shockingly, the court did not announce its verdict in full until a
month later.
Is this sequence of events an example of “powerful people” lobbying and
influencing the judiciary? Does Ma think that inviting senior members of the
judiciary to a dinner and commenting on individual cases could be considered
“political guidance”? Were these actions flagrant lobbying of the Supreme Court
in order to see his political enemy put behind bars?
Chen Chih-chung is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley and
has a master’s in law from New York University.
Translated by Paul Cooper
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