Rescuing President Tsai's Favorite Boy at the Cost of Academic and Political Conscience
United Daily News Editorial, July 10, 2022
With scrutiny of thesis plagiarism yet to be dissipated, Lin Chih-chien has deserted his mayoral post in Hsinchu and rushed to Taoyuan to run for mayor. Lin was eager to get out of the thesis storm, but his self-defense and rebuttal appeared flickering and weak. Lin’s advisors tried their best to protect him, perhaps out of the need of "accomplice structure," revealing the unspeakable inside stories. Worst of all, to save her favorite boy, President Tsai Ing-wen would rather put elections first and sacrifice the academic ethics and political integrity of the nation.
The originality check of Lin’s two theses with related papers has become a popular subject on the Internet, and anyone can easily see something odd about it. Lin countered that the opposition Kuomintang (KMT) is only pouring dirty water. He did not explain thesis writing process, which naturally did not help find the truth and hardly shifted the focus of plagiarism scandal. The ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and its supporters were covering for him, but all kinds of pretentious remarks made people feel that the degeneration of academic ethics and political integrity has almost no bottom line.
Director-General Chen Ming-tong of the National Security Bureau served as Lin’s advisor at the Graduate Institute of National Development of National Taiwan University. He claimed that "Lin provided materials and first draft." This turned the original author the plagiarist and the former was intimidated and silenced. This is most disturbing. Another DPP-friendly minion, a so-called university professor, even argued that "plagiarism by a Master student is cheating, not to the point of violating academic ethics." and "Even if Lin plagiarized, there is no need to kill a bird with a cannon." This has left people flabbergasted. Furthermore, Minister without Portfolio Chang Ching-sen, dismissed "master's degree must write a dissertation" as an outdated and pedantic concept. It appears that they are willing to ruin not only the reputation of two universities but also the academic quality of universities across the country just to save the skin of one person.
President Tsai left a comment on Lin’s Facebook page, praising him for "his hard work." In addition, she emphasized that "the chaotic phenomenon of smearing at will for election should not happen in a mature democracy." She declared that Lin could win voters' support with his policy vision and governance experience. Although President Tsai did not make bizarre remarks like Chen or Chang, as a president, her actions of comforting and supporting Lin were very odd in themselves and carried different meanings and effects.
First, many people would think of President Tsai when the issue of the thesis was mentioned; Lin’s attitude towards the question of his thesis was also easily linked to President Tsai’s case. Second, when Kaohsiung mayoral by-election candidate Jane Lee of the KMT was suspected of plagiarizing her thesis, President Tsai admonished Lee to have the courage to face the plagiarism questions and explain clearly in response. But this time around, the whole DPP was resorting to chicanery to pamper and protect Lin exposing their double standards. Third, President Tsai looks down on voters and believes that voters do not care about academic ethics and integrity, and “draw a big pie can exchange for votes.” Fourth, Lin’s thesis at Chung Hua University was suspected of plagiarizing the Hsinchu Science Park report, and how could a head of state show such disregard the protection of national intellectual property.
More importantly, President Tsai has determined that any questioning of Lin’s thesis is election smear tactics. This is equivalent to guiding the direction of subsequent university investigations and judicial proceedings. What’s more, the chairman of Chung Hua University is also a city councilor and the spokesman of the DPP. And the Tsai administration is used to guiding judicial decisions, even the Supreme Court Justice's interpretation of the Constitution and judgments do not dare to go against the authorities. President Tsai’s statement amounted to political intervention in university investigations and judicial trials.
There may be other political considerations for President Tsai’s pampering and protection of Lin: to avoid the effect of the year-end election. Lin’s departure or stay will directly affect the success or failure of the election in Hsinchu and Taoyuan. Coupled with the difficulties of nomination for both Taipei and New Taipei. It is likely to change the political map of northern Taiwan in the end. To safeguard the political map and stay in power, President Tsai would not hesitate to sacrifice academic ethics and political integrity. She set a bad example.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson of the United Kingdom was forced to resign because of integrity issues. But President Tsai chose to ignore political integrity and academic ethics to protect Lin from being engulfed in a plagiarism scandal. Many high-ranking officials at home and abroad found to have plagiarized their papers must step down, almost without exception. It is the basic requirement for the integrity of politicians. But President Tsai would use election smear to shield plagiarism, obscure academic ethics with democracy, political interference in school investigations, and even resort to slander to block supervision, check and balance.
President Tsai’s endeavor to defend a plagiarist will leave university professors wondering how to advise students to write papers. It even makes doctoral and master students wonder who and why their thesis is written! Maybe President Tsai just wants to protect her favorite boy but destroy academic ethics in Taiwan. Maybe President Tsai just wants to protect her power turf but indeed destroy Taiwan’s democratic values.