As we approach the first anniversary of the March 19 assassination attempt on President Chen Shui-bian (
Unfortunately, Chen Yi-hsiung drowned off Anping, Tainan City after the shooting. Lacking direct evidence, the police are stopping short of saying that they have cracked the case, and even though this announcement marks a step in uncovering the truth behind the shooting incident, they are not quite there yet.
There are a number of reasons the police believe Chen to be their man, including his purchase of a handgun from gunmaker Tang Shou-yi (
Prosecutors and police are confident of Chen Yi-hsiung's involvement in the case. But investigation must continue because many questions remain. Since the alleged shooter is dead, and his suicide note and yellow coat were destroyed by his family, the only evidence of his involvement are the statements made by his family members, who have been granted immunity. The gun allegedly used in the shooting has not been found. People also want to know if Chen Yi-hsiung had any accomplice, or whether he was acting on another's orders.
The police officers and detectives have put a lot of effort into this case, and the investigation has proved fruitful. Although questions remain and the public is not satisfied, people should be able to accept a result like this -- as long as the search for direct evidence continues. There is no need, however, for another special investigation committee to be set up by the legislature.
The March 19 Shooting Truth Investigation Special Committee raised several points of suspicion in its final report, but most of them were accusations regarding political motivations and completely groundless speculation. The committee put the nation in a state of unrest politically, economically and socially, so the Legislative Yuan must not again waste national resources to establish a second committee in this session probing the case.
The opposition parties should trust in what the judiciary has been doing and cautiously consider whether it is, in fact, necessary for them to take to the streets once again in front of the Ketagalan Boulevard and cause the country to sink further into the quagmire of conflict.
The police believe the motive for the assassination attempt was Chen Yi-hsiung's discontent with the nation's political scene. Over the past four years, the blue camp, with its legislative majority, stalled the government's efforts to achieve greater economic growth and promote both political and economic reforms. Chen Shui-bian, with his re-election, has learned to place cross-party reconciliation and cooperation atop his political agenda. The overall political scene has, therefore, seen a detente.
There is a chance now for the governing and opposition parties to work together to improve the economy rather than engage in further political power struggles, which would destroy the small conciliatory steps that have been taken so far. Faced with increasingly aggressive moves from across the Taiwan Strait, our politicians would do well to focus on putting the nation first, not their careers.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus whip Fu Kun-chi (傅?萁) has caused havoc with his attempts to overturn the democratic and constitutional order in the legislature. If we look at this devolution from the context of a transition to democracy from authoritarianism in a culturally Chinese sense — that of zhonghua (中華) — then we are playing witness to a servile spirit from a millennia-old form of totalitarianism that is intent on damaging the nation’s hard-won democracy. This servile spirit is ingrained in Chinese culture. About a century ago, Chinese satirist and author Lu Xun (魯迅) saw through the servile nature of
In their New York Times bestseller How Democracies Die, Harvard political scientists Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt said that democracies today “may die at the hands not of generals but of elected leaders. Many government efforts to subvert democracy are ‘legal,’ in the sense that they are approved by the legislature or accepted by the courts. They may even be portrayed as efforts to improve democracy — making the judiciary more efficient, combating corruption, or cleaning up the electoral process.” Moreover, the two authors observe that those who denounce such legal threats to democracy are often “dismissed as exaggerating or
Monday was the 37th anniversary of former president Chiang Ching-kuo’s (蔣經國) death. Chiang — a son of former president Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石), who had implemented party-state rule and martial law in Taiwan — has a complicated legacy. Whether one looks at his time in power in a positive or negative light depends very much on who they are, and what their relationship with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is. Although toward the end of his life Chiang Ching-kuo lifted martial law and steered Taiwan onto the path of democratization, these changes were forced upon him by internal and external pressures,
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus in the Legislative Yuan has made an internal decision to freeze NT$1.8 billion (US$54.7 million) of the indigenous submarine project’s NT$2 billion budget. This means that up to 90 percent of the budget cannot be utilized. It would only be accessible if the legislature agrees to lift the freeze sometime in the future. However, for Taiwan to construct its own submarines, it must rely on foreign support for several key pieces of equipment and technology. These foreign supporters would also be forced to endure significant pressure, infiltration and influence from Beijing. In other words,
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