A laughable verdict
Any reader with some sense likely finds himself or herself unable to suppress the urge to laugh while perusing the transcript of Judge Tsai Shou-hsun’s (蔡守訓) verdicts on former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and his associates with respect to the charges of graft.
Its language is asinine and bombastic, its legal references to Song Dynasty imperial maxims are anachronistic and its tone is at once paltry and narcissistic. Honestly, Judge Tsai, pray enlighten us as to what an emperor of the past Chinese dynasty said in any way has got to do with the heart of the matter of the case.
We would also like to know if attending National Taiwan University merits a harsher penalty for two of the defendants.
We have been given to understand that the transcript will be translated into English and French and then given to the Swiss authorities as a legal basis to claim Chen’s frozen assets in Swiss financial institutions. We shudder to think of the giggling that the transcript may induce when the appropriate Swiss authorities read it. The chance of recovering Chen’s assets will be even less likely as a result.
Much energy and revenue have been wasted on a masterpiece of legal trash. Its legality was pronounced dead the moment President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration helped Tsai hijack the case — a miscalculated measure that many in the pan-blue camp are sorely repenting at this moment.
This has certainly deferred Ma’s goal of putting Chen through a “horrible death.” But Ma is tenacious and good at improvisation. His hangers-on and jackals will continue to provide service to help him achieve his objective. Tsai is just one of the expedients in the grand scheme of this political fiasco.
YANG CHUNHUI
Salt Lake City, Utah
Monitor Internet security
Using the Internet to buy books or getting an online membership to read articles is very common in Taiwan. A report published by Taiwan Network Information Center said the nation’s Internet penetration rate reached 68.94 percent last year. We can expect that more people went online this year.
When we use Internet for online auctions, to join airline frequent flier clubs or read articles, we have to register to become a member first. However, this simple action could lead to trouble.
The average person might sign up on one or two Web sites a month without thinking much about the Web site’s security. To sign up we usually have to provide personal details such as name, birth date, e-mail address and phone number and then provide a user ID and password settings. The Web site registration process is as simple, but this simplicity does not guarantee the information we provide is safe and will not be manipulated by malicious technicians or hackers.
Suppose I Google an interesting article and link to the URL, the Web site requires me to sign up to read the entire article. Usually, we will follow the steps the Web site requests in order to read the intriguing content. The problem is, how many sets of password and user IDs can we actually remember? I am afraid that the answer for most of us is “few.” We seldom memorize different passwords and user IDs for different uses. Many online surfers use the same password they used for their ATM cards or online bank accounts.
Once in a blue moon, I receive e-mails from high school buddies or cyberpals. Suddenly it seems that they have become perverts, sending me lots of pornography links or they change their career to be a pimp by inviting me to visit their business. These poor friends, they still have no idea what’s going on. They have become victims of Internet fraud. Then there are the hackers who use your best friend’s e-mail account to ask you to transfer a couple thousand dollars to help with some emergency.
If we remain unaware or ignore how serious Internet crime is, we might become the next target for those scammers. The best way to prevent this is to update our password every 72 days and separate two sets of password for use on insignificant and important Web sites respectively.
The police should also do more to prevent Internet crime. Legislators should pass laws to catch up with the fast-changing online world. If Internet users take precautions and with help from our government, I believe that we can have a safer Web environment in the near future.
JACK HUANG
Lugang, Changhua County
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,
“I compare the Communist Party to my mother,” sings a student at a boarding school in a Tibetan region of China’s Qinghai province. “If faith has a color,” others at a different school sing, “it would surely be Chinese red.” In a major story for the New York Times this month, Chris Buckley wrote about the forced placement of hundreds of thousands of Tibetan children in boarding schools, where many suffer physical and psychological abuse. Separating these children from their families, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) aims to substitute itself for their parents and for their religion. Buckley’s reporting is
As Taiwan’s domestic political crisis deepens, the opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) have proposed gutting the country’s national spending, with steep cuts to the critical foreign and defense ministries. While the blue-white coalition alleges that it is merely responding to voters’ concerns about corruption and mismanagement, of which there certainly has been plenty under Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and KMT-led governments, the rationales for their proposed spending cuts lay bare the incoherent foreign policy of the KMT-led coalition. Introduced on the eve of US President Donald Trump’s inauguration, the KMT’s proposed budget is a terrible opening
Last week, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), together holding more than half of the legislative seats, cut about NT$94 billion (US$2.85 billion) from the yearly budget. The cuts include 60 percent of the government’s advertising budget, 10 percent of administrative expenses, 3 percent of the military budget, and 60 percent of the international travel, overseas education and training allowances. In addition, the two parties have proposed freezing the budgets of many ministries and departments, including NT$1.8 billion from the Ministry of National Defense’s Indigenous Defense Submarine program — 90 percent of the program’s proposed
RSS