After Exonerating Corruption, What Else Isn't the DPP Afraid to Do？
United Daily News Editorial, June3, 2022
With current pandemic still hovering at its peak and approaching local election, the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DDP), regardless the distress of people livelihood and hatred against corruption, stubbornly passed an amendment of “accounting act” with its majority in the Legislative Yuan exonerating former President Chen Shui-bian from corruption charges related to misusing the state affairs fund. The DPP would rather bear the infamy through the ages only to “rescue one person by the entire party.” As such, nothing but the downright absence of justice and conscience, words fail to describe it. However, if we probe in-depth all the acts of the DPP since it assumed full power, the track of such acts is crystal clear.
Legislator Ker Chien-ming, whip of the DPP caucus of the Legislative Yuan who masterminded the event, claimed that state confidential expense and ad hoc expense were “historical common legacy” and part of the “transitional justice,” after this amendment, “Chen Shui-bian would no longer be a political cashing machine,” the opposition Kuomintang (KMT) should walk away from “anti-Chen Shui-bian syndrome.” Is this true? The treacherous corruption of the Chen family has written a filthiest page in Taiwan’s democracy. Chen has become a laughing stock of democracy and has been swept into historic ash. Who in Taiwan still has “anti-Chen Shui-bian syndrome?”
To put it bluntly, it is the DPP who indeed still cannot walk away from “Chen Shui-bian complex.” When Chen was in power, the whole DPP was coerced by his power and money to justify his abuse of power and corruption. Even when his corruption was uncovered and sentence was determined for years, the DPP by hooks and by crooks tried to exonerate him. Such mindset, is either out of the “the Stockholm syndrome” or “Birds of a feather flock together.” For six years, the DPP has monopolized with full power and eaten up all profits; today, it amended the law to exonerate Chen and self-proclaimed as justice. This is another bottom-line test for the DPP to head toward totalitarian dictatorship. Doesn’t DPP think that the public would be disgusted?
The DPP unraveled its lower limit at any cost only to help exonerate former President Chen from corruption, exposing it has completely betrayed its ideal of founding the party. A solemn legislative power was used to show favor to a corruptor, does the DPP take pride in its prestige and achievement in doing this? This amendment specially stipulated: those involving state confidential expense criminals prior to “December 31, 2006” will be with impunity. This condition was tailored exclusively for Chen. If this is of no selfishness, who can believe it?
This abuse of law to serve as tools for special object is a creative idea of the DPP, and this is not the only case. Taking the “Act Governing the Settlement of Ill-gotten Properties by Political Parties and Their Affiliate Organizations” for an example, its applicable objects are political parties “founded prior to July 15, 1987” although there are ten political parties applicable, but the administration of President Tsai Ing-wen in real operation pinpointed against the KMT only, no other party else. Further, the Transitional Justice Act stipulated its applicable period “from August 15, 1945 to November 6, 1992” of course was specially stipulated to deal with the KMT. In the eyes of the DPP, laws are not made for national institutional governance but to strike opponent parties and protect the DPP itself.
Not to mention those years afar, just look at the “Special Act for Prevention, Relief and Revitalization Measures for COVID-19” of the last two years, the DPP with its monopoly in the Legislative Yuan gave supreme power to the executive and Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) without any supervision and accountability design. As a consequence, with a budget as high as NT$840 billion (about US$28.5 billion), but all through the way of pandemic prevention, a series of continued chaos such as shortages of mask, vaccine, self-test kit, children vaccine, oral medicine and medical assistance. Over 10 children died, but those responsible officials are still calling the shot there.
The Legislative Yuan is the highest representative body, but under DPP domination, all DPP legislators become cheerleaders of the government, checking and balance are missing and public opinion is ignored. A legislative body of favoritism and power abusing, forgetting its mandate of check and balance, becomes a national disaster. Think for a moment, fellow citizens, how long we have not heard DPP legislators proposing a meaningful supervision or questioning against executive officers? Nothing at all! Search ins and outs, we can find nothing. Worse further, under the political monopoly of President Tsai, the judicial and control branches of government become institutes of invertebrates. Those officials in charge would rather look upward and figure out what the top gun has in mind while victimizing the grassroot prosecutors at any cost than maintain judicial independence.
That DPP amended the law for Chen is just a glimpse of floating light, reflecting that the Tsai administration has forgotten its original intention of governance, the public opinion, democracy and justice; instead, it is corroding the country with arbitrary attitude to bring Taiwan back to authoritarianism and corruption.