Dozens of netizens vented their anger yesterday over what they said was President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) “cold-blooded political persecution” of Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) through “illegal, unconstitutional and inhumane” means, with some launching an online signature drive demanding the president’s immediate resignation.
The initiator of the signature drive, who identified himself as a swing voter, said that demanding Ma’s resignation was the “obligation and responsibility of every Taiwanese who loves this country and has a good sense of judgement of what is right and wrong, and of shame.”
“To take down his political enemies, Ma, despite being the head of state of this country, has resorted to illegal, unconstitutional and inhumane tactics and stepped beyond the mandate bestowed upon him by the Constitution by wiretapping the legislative speaker [Wang] and the leader of the opposition party caucus [Democratic Progressive Party caucus convener Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘)],” the petition read.
Not only has the president tried to justify his illegitimate conduct, he has also used information obtained during the illegal wiretap operation to carry out a political vendetta against Wang and used his subjective judgement to unilaterally declare Wang guilty, the signature drive said.
“Ma’s behavior is the biggest disgrace to Taiwan’s democratic development and we [the public] must ask him to step down before the nation sinks into an indefinite period of darkness,” the petition said.
The petition had received backing from nearly 16,000 netizens as of press time.
Meanwhile, other Internet users also criticized Ma for reportedly saying that Wang should be stripped of his Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) membership for “tarnishing the party’s image and reputation” during a meeting of the KMT’s 15-member Disciplinary Committee held yesterday to discuss Wang’s fate.
The meeting reached a consensus to revoke Wang’s membership after deliberating for two hours and 20 minutes.
Sources say Ma, who is KMT chairman, was choked with tears as he made a 10-minute speech at the committee meeting, in which he said he was “too saddened by Wang’s involvement in illegal lobbying to be able to sleep.”
The legislative speaker is embroiled in an alleged influence-peddling case involving several prominent political figures, including Ker and former minister of justice Tseng Yung-fu (曾勇夫), who resigned on Friday last week over the matter.
“It’s obvious that Ma has been trying to take down Wang since the very beginning. He [Ma] is such a hypocrite,” one netizen wrote.
Another said maybe it was the overwhelming joy of finally being able to remove Wang that had been keeping Ma up at night.
Some netizens also ridiculed the president for his unusually tough stance on the incident, saying that it seemed as if he was only capable of and passionate about launching political vendetta, instead of handling economic problems as he is supposed to.
‘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