A public opinion poll released yesterday showed most people do not trust lawmakers and law enforcement officials, and believe that not even a change of administration would change the situation.
Asked whether the judiciary is able to safeguard social justice and fairness, 69.1 percent of respondents said no, while only 17 percent said yes and 13.9 percent did not give an answer, the poll by Taiwan Indicators Survey Research showed.
The survey also found that 58.7 percent did not think law enforcement officials — including police, prosecutors and Investigation Bureau agents — enforced the law fairly, while 30.6 percent thought they did and 10.8 percent gave no answer.
Most respondents appeared to have given up on having a respectable judicial system, with 78.8 percent saying they did not believe there would ever be an independent judicial system in Taiwan, regardless of whether the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) or the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is in power.
As for the Legislative Yuan, most respondents appeared suspicious of lawmakers’ motives and interests.
Asked about KMT lawmakers, 24.6 percent of respondents said they work for the interests of their own families and factions, followed by corporates and specific interest groups at 23.6 percent and the KMT at 21.5 percent. Only 6.9 percent said KMT lawmakers have the interests of all people in mind and 6 percent said they work for their constituencies.
Trust in DPP lawmakers was also low, but respondents’ view on whose interests they uphold varies slightly. Working for the interests of their own families and factions also ranked first at 24.9 percent, followed by the DPP at 24.4 percent. However, only 8 percent linked DPP lawmakers with corporations and specific interest groups, while 14.9 percent believed they had the public interest in mind.
Meanwhile, President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) approval rating plunged again after showing signs of life last month.
Ma had an approval rating of 14.8 percent, down 6.3 percentage points from the poll last month, and a disapproval rating of 74.3 percent, up 7.1 percentage points from last month.
Asked if Ma could crack down on corruption and build a clean government, 73.8 percent of respondents said he would not be able to do that.
Ma’s latest credibility rating was 18 percent, with 66.5 percent of those who took part in the poll saying they did not find Ma trustworthy.
Premier Jiang Yi-huah’s (江宜樺) approval rating also dropped to 15.6 percent, 3.7 percentage points lower from the previous poll.
The survey, conducted on Wednesday and Thursday last week, collected 1,008 valid samples and had a margin of error of 3.1 percentage points.
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) was questioned by prosecutors for allegedly orchestrating an attack on a taxi driver after he was allegedly driven on a longer than necessary route in a car he disliked. The questioning at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office was ongoing as of press time last night. Police have recommended charges of attempted murder. The legally embattled actor — known for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代) — is under a separate investigation for allegedly using fake medical documents to evade mandatory military service. According to local media reports, police said Wang earlier last year ordered a
President William Lai (賴清德) should protect Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), and stop supporting domestic strife and discord, former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) wrote on Facebook yesterday. US President Donald Trump and TSMC on Monday jointly announced that the company would invest an additional US$100 billion over the next few years to expand its semiconductor manufacturing operations in the US. The TSMC plans have promoted concern in Taiwan that it would effectively lead to the chipmaking giant becoming Americanized. The Lai administration lacks tangible policies to address concerns that Taiwan might follow in Ukraine’s footsteps, Ma wrote. Instead, it seems to think it could
A man in Tainan has been cleared on charges of public insult after giving the middle finger during a road rage incident, as judges deemed the gesture was made “briefly to express negative feelings.” In last week’s ruling at the High Court’s Tainan branch, judges acquitted a driver, surnamed Cheng (程), for an incident along Tainan’s Nanmen Road in September 2023, when Cheng had spotted a place to park his car in an adjacent lane. Cheng slowed down his vehicle to go into reverse, to back into the parking spot, but the car behind followed too closely, as its driver thought Cheng
DEFENSE: The purpose of the exercises is to identify strategies for the government to control risks during tensions, prevent war and bolster national resilience A tabletop exercise series has begun simulating possible scenarios if the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) launched a war against Taiwan in the guise of a military exercise. The exercise series is jointly organized by National Chengchi University’s Institute of International Relations, Taiwan Center for Security Studies and Asia-Pacific Policy Research Association. Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Chen Yeong-kang (陳永康), former American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) director William Stanton and Taiwan Center for Security Studies director Liu Fu-kuo (劉復國) attended the event in Taipei yesterday. Scenarios that would be simulated include changing political circumstances in the US during US President Donald Trump’s tenure
RSS