The Judicial Yuan should submit to the legislature a new bill governing judges as soon as possible to ensure better regulation and restore the credibility of the battered judiciary, a Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmaker said on Sunday.
“The recent spate of corruption scandals involving judges has proved that self-discipline is not enough to ensure judicial rectitude,” KMT Legislator Chiu Yi (邱毅) said. “Strict legislation and more outside supervision are badly needed.”
Chiu said the Judicial Yuan has not come up with a new version since its previous bill on judges was rejected by the legislature.
“As the top supervisory body of courts and judges, the Judicial Yuan is obligated to present a new version of the judges bill for ratification by the legislature,” Chiu said, adding that the Judicial Yuan should stop dragging its feet on the issue.
Without a Judicial Yuan-drafted bill, the legislature can do nothing to respond to the public demand for stricter regulation of the judiciary, Chiu said.
Asked about an appeal by Taiwan High Court Judge Chen Heng-kuan (陳恆寬) for President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) to call a national meeting on judicial reform, Chiu said that what matters was action and mettle.
Chen, one of three judges who presided over the trial of former Presidential Office deputy secretary-general Chen Che-nan (陳哲男) at the Taiwan High Court, resigned on Thursday to protest the lenient sentence handed down to Chen Che-nan. However, he said on Saturday he had changed his mind and withdrew his resignation.
“My conscience told me to stay on and continue the fight for judicial reform,” Chen Heng-kuan said, adding that he hoped Ma would call a national meeting on judicial reform to win back public trust in the judiciary.
However, Chiu said that holding such a meeting might only generate some media coverage, while achieving nothing substantive. He said that both the administrative and judicial branches should show resolve by decisive action rather than mere lip service.
Chiu said the problems in the judicial system were mainly the result of the judiciary's bureaucratic mentality, under which individual judges mind only their own business or even cover up each other's illicit or corrupt activities.
He said this kind of judicial culture had left conscientious and incorruptible judges busy and corrupt judges “rich and famous.”
Chiu said joint efforts from within and without the ranks of the judiciary were needed to stop this cycle of evil.
KMT Legislator Lu Hsueh-chang (呂學樟) said he supported Chen Heng-kuan's call for a national conference to pool wisdom to map out a judicial reform package.
Saying judicial reform needed the collaboration of police, investigators, prosecutors, judges and lawyers, Lu called on Ma to play a leading role in integrating resources in all these sectors to promote reform.
CAUTION: Based on intelligence from the nation’s security agencies, MOFA has cautioned Taiwanese travelers about heightened safety risks in China-friendly countries The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday urged Taiwanese to be aware of their safety when traveling abroad, especially in countries that are friendly to China. China in June last year issued 22 guidelines that allow its courts to try in absentia and sentence to death so-called “diehard” Taiwanese independence activists, even though Chinese courts have no jurisdiction in Taiwan. Late last month, a senior Chinese official gave closed-door instructions to state security units to implement the guidelines in countries friendly to China, a government memo and a senior Taiwan security official said, based on information gathered by Taiwan’s intelligence agency. The
The National Immigration Agency (NIA) said yesterday that it will revoke the dependent-based residence permit of a Chinese social media influencer who reportedly “openly advocated for [China’s] unification through military force” with Taiwan. The Chinese national, identified by her surname Liu (劉), will have her residence permit revoked in accordance with Article 14 of the “Measures for the permission of family- based residence, long-term residence and settlement of people from the Mainland Area in the Taiwan Area,” the NIA said in a news release. The agency explained it received reports that Liu made “unifying Taiwan through military force” statements on her online
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, said yesterday that it is looking to hire 8,000 people this year, at a time when the tech giant is expanding production capacity to maintain its lead over competitors. To attract talent, TSMC would launch a large-scale recruitment campaign on campuses across Taiwan, where a newly recruited engineer with a master’s degree could expect to receive an average salary of NT$2.2 million (US$60,912), which is much higher than the 2023 national average of NT$709,000 for those in the same category, according to government statistics. TSMC, which accounted for more than 60 percent
Tung Tzu-hsien (童子賢), a Taiwanese businessman and deputy convener of the nation’s National Climate Change Committee, said yesterday that “electrical power is national power” and nuclear energy is “very important to Taiwan.” Tung made the remarks, suggesting that his views do not align with the country’s current official policy of phasing out nuclear energy, at a forum organized by the Taiwan People’s Party titled “Challenges and Prospects of Taiwan’s AI Industry and Energy Policy.” “Taiwan is currently pursuing industries with high added- value and is developing vigorously, and this all requires electricity,” said the chairman
RSS