Media maggots hit new low
The desperation of Taiwan has sunk to a new low. Not only are the last 20-odd years of democratization being thrown on the scrap heap by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) media clout and island-wide patronage, but now the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is also seemingly falling over itself to contribute to this nation’s complete subjugation.
Notwithstanding the myriad falsehoods and pretentious “Taiwanese” claims of President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), the DPP is also losing its grip on reality. Instead of challenging the KMT elite on substantive topics, the DPP continues to focus on non-issues that actually serve to denigrate the past and invite the KMT overlords to use their media might to erase the real injustices from history.
This is an absolute tragedy for a people with such a rich and meaningful history of their own. The most recent example is the pathetic DPP call for the release of former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) (“DPP calls for release of Chen,” June 26, page 1). It was pathetic, because instead of highlighting the complete prejudice and oppression of the whole process and their ramifications, DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) sees fit to fuel the fire of those KMT media bandits whose careers revolve around the daily blurring and obscuring of any issues of substance.
How idiotic to state in this context that Chen has “disappointed the public” and “failed to keep his family in line.”
What a load of nonsense. The proven facts to date are that after two failed attempts, the KMT summarily changed judges and have since kept the former president in incarceration without the slightest regard for fairness and justice.
This blatant political vendetta has brought the whole Republic of China judicial system into international disrepute and drawn much derision from legal experts, but Taiwanese themselves remain for the most part oblivious — for lamentably obvious reasons.
It is incumbent on the DPP to start focusing on the huge number of genuine matters of concern for authentic Taiwanese before it’s too late, and in doing so, not give unnecessary and unfounded credence to the spewings of those media maggots whose only goal is to make real issues farcical in order to preserve and entrench their and their masters’ unjust elitist status.
DAVID KAY
Taipei
Taiwan’s soul may be lost
An extremely important meeting of the Kaohsiung City Council’s Disciplinary Committee was scheduled to convene on Monday, April 20, at 3pm to discuss the case of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Kaohsiung City Councilor Huang Shao-ting (黃紹庭) who, like his nefarious and now infamous cohort former KMT legislator Diane Lee (李慶安), is alleged to possess dual citizenship — a felonious offense under Taiwan’s own Nationality Act (國籍法).
But to my great chagrin, and to the chagrin of many others, the meeting scheduled for April 20 had to be canceled when only two of the seven members on the Disciplinary Committee bothered to show up. More than two-thirds of the members boycotted the meeting, thus forcing its cancelation.
In my view, this constitutes a gross dereliction of duty. The meeting scheduled for April 20 was an extremely important one, the first meeting of its kind to have been scheduled in nearly a quarter of a century.
I can only wonder if by any chance the five members who failed to show up were KMT members, as are Lee and Huang.
The Taipei Times reported that the meeting of Kaohsiung City’s Disciplinary Committee hearing Huang’s case would have to be rescheduled for a later date (“Kaohsiung to reschedule meeting on citizenship row,” April 28, page 3).
Lamentably, no specific or precise date was given, only that it would hopefully be some time “later.”
More than two months have passed, but astonishingly enough, no one on this Disciplinary Committee has been able to reschedule a suitable date.
I find this snail’s pace all the more astounding when contrasted with the vigor and ardor exemplified by the opponents of former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁). Chen is incarcerated in a cell without even the benefit of a proper mattress.
His daughter is being tormented and humiliated to the point where her psychological welfare may be at risk. And now even her six-year-old son is the victim of an organized hate campaign. It seems that some people will not be satisfied until Chen and his entire family are destroyed.
Meanwhile, Lee and Huang act with impunity and go their merry way, knowing that their power, wealth and privileged status will protect them.
My advice to Taiwan is that the nation pay attention to its soul, because it in danger of being lost.
MICHAEL SCANLON
Connecticut, USA
To The Honorable Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜): We would like to extend our sincerest regards to you for representing Taiwan at the inauguration of US President Donald Trump on Monday. The Taiwanese-American community was delighted to see that Taiwan’s Legislative Yuan speaker not only received an invitation to attend the event, but successfully made the trip to the US. We sincerely hope that you took this rare opportunity to share Taiwan’s achievements in freedom, democracy and economic development with delegations from other countries. In recent years, Taiwan’s economic growth and world-leading technology industry have been a source of pride for Taiwanese-Americans.
Next week, the nation is to celebrate the Lunar New Year break. Unfortunately, cold winds are a-blowing, literally and figuratively. The Central Weather Administration has warned of an approaching cold air mass, while obstinate winds of chaos eddy around the Legislative Yuan. English theologian Thomas Fuller optimistically pointed out in 1650 that “it’s always darkest before the dawn.” We could paraphrase by saying the coldest days are just before the renewed hope of spring. However, one must temper any optimism about the damage being done in the legislature by the opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), under
To our readers: Due to the Lunar New Year holiday, from Sunday, Jan. 26, through Sunday, Feb. 2, the Taipei Times will have a reduced format without our regular editorials and opinion pieces. From Tuesday to Saturday the paper will not be delivered to subscribers, but will be available for purchase at convenience stores. Subscribers will receive the editions they missed once normal distribution resumes on Sunday, Feb. 2. The paper returns to its usual format on Monday, Feb. 3, when our regular editorials and opinion pieces will also be resumed.
Young Taiwanese are consuming an increasing amount of Chinese content on TikTok, causing them to have more favorable views of China, a Financial Times report cited Taiwanese social scientists and politicians as saying. Taiwanese are being exposed to disinformation of a political nature from China, even when using TikTok to view entertainment-related content, the article published on Friday last week said. Fewer young people identify as “Taiwanese” (as opposed to “Chinese”) compared with past years, it wrote, citing the results of a survey last year by the Taiwan Public Opinion Foundation. Nevertheless, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) would be hard-pressed
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