After devoting 29 years to the field of law enforcement, senior prosecutor Morley Shih (施茂林) has finally reached the top -- he's been appointed justice minister.
The naming of Shih to the post was announced by Kaohsiung City Mayor Frank Hsieh (謝長廷), who will be sworn in as premier on Feb. 1. Shih will replace the current minister of justice, Chen Ding-nan (陳定南), and will take the minister's office along with his fellow Cabinet members early next month. Chen will return to his hometown of Ilan to campaign for the Ilan County commissioner election in December.
"The promotion provides new inspiration and challenges for me," Shih said. "In the future, my major job will be to keep people safe. In addition, we will keep working on a plan to abolish the death penalty, which is also the ministry's long-term policy."
Shih also said that a qualified prosecutor should know what he or she is doing and why.
"Being a prosecutor, you have to deal with a lot of sensitive cases from time to time, so you have to be very sensitive yourself," Shih said.
"When you make a mistake [in investigations], you hurt the image of all prosecutors -- not just yourself. You have to be extremely careful," he added.
Before he assumes the justice minister's office on Feb. 1, Shih is currently the vice justice minister, a position he assumed only last November. He is one of the most popular prosecutors in the nation because he enjoys "helping" his fellow prosecutors instead of "assigning" them.
At the Taipei District Prosecutors' Office where he worked for more than three years, Shih received praise from his fellow prosecutors. Shih was more like a teacher and father than a boss, former co-workers said.
"[Shih] often visited different offices and asked us whether we needed help ... he helped a lot when he had time. He even helped rookie prosecutors find a dorm room, which he really did not have to do," an prosecutor at the Taipei District Prosecutors' Office said on condition of anonymity.
Prosecutor Eric Chen (陳瑞仁), who is also the spokesman for the Prosecutors Reform Association (檢察官改革協會), said that Shih was selected as the "best candidate for the post as the state public prosecutor-general" in 2000 and last year by the association's members.
Currently, the justice ministry employs approximately 850 prosecutors, but two-thirds of them are members of the association.
"[Shih] was a prosecutor himself so he knows what a prosecutor needs," Eric Chen said. "His being appointed the new justice minister is really an encouragement to his fellow prosecutors."
Eric Chen also said that the most serious problem faced by prosecutors is a shortage in manpower.
"It has been a problem for years. Shih definitely knows how to solve the problem," Eric Chen said.
In addition to his relationship with prosecutors, Shih also established connections with the media, and has on occasion met personally with reporters in order to find out what the Taipei District Prosecutors' Office should do to improve.
"[Shih] is good at communications and negotiation," Eric Chen said. "It is a required personality trait for a justice minister."
Shih was born in Chiayi on Aug. 2, 1950. He graduated with a bachelor's degree in law from National Taiwan University, where he was classmates with now Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), in 1972.
He passed the national exam for judges and prosecutors, passed the one-year recruiting program and became a prosecutor at the Taichung District Prosecutors' Office in 1976. In 1982, he switched gears and became a judge at the Taichung District Court. Two years later, he was promoted to presiding judge.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
RSS