You are how you vote. Taiwanese are reaping what they sow by voting KMT, in particular Ma, in power. Double standards have become a norm in Taiwan, and worst of all, judicial double standards are playing out in front of everybody's eyes. Trial courts have long been controlled by KMT to jail and torture political dissidents, but when Taiwanese general public and the major opposition party, DPP, sit on their hands to allow Ma and his administration to jail and torture President Chen since 2008, the so called democracy miracle of Taiwan is quickly becoming an illusion. A country will fail when double standards, in particular judicial double standards, become the norm.
The same judge could find all sorts of reasons to acquit Ma by ignoring the fact that he embezzled his Taipei Mayor special fund and deposited it into his private account over eight years while sentencing President Chen to life in prison without solid evidences. After that, a long list of former DPP officials were indicted and sentenced with only a few lucky ones acquitted after years of lawsuits. In the mean time, KMT members got away with corruption charges cases after cases. They were either let go by the prosecution by dropping the charges or acquitted by trial judges. Even when they were convicted, they were allowed to escape Taiwan, mostly into China and the US. President Chen was detained when the Special Prosecution Panel started their initial investigation. He has been imprisoned since and he probably will die in prison after he was forcefully removed from Taipei Veteran General Hospital and sent to Taichung Prison to deprive his medical care.
In the mean time, judicial double standards continue. Dr. Ko Wen-Je, the leader of the volunteering medical team for President Chen, just received an inquiry request by Taipei Investigation Bureau and he is listed as a corruption suspect without giving any specifics. Dr. Ko sighed: Is this country going insane? KMT's Lin I-Shi was just found not guilty in corruption by three "fossil" judges, mocking any common sense. The so called "de facto influence" principle, which was used to convict President Chen to 20 years in prison for corruption, does not apply to the KMT Lin I-Shi. Two supporters of President Chen were also charged when they threw shoes at Ma on the Human Rights Day last November. (see the two reports below in Hanji)
Is Taiwan returning to the white terror era? Can Taiwanese go back to the survival mode once again by shutting their mouths since the 228 massacre in 1947 and devoting themselves into money making? Can an average Taiwanese citizen avoid harm by shunning politics? The answer is, unfortunately, a definitive NO!
When a country fails, nobody escapes. Selfishness does not offer protection. By voting Ma into power, the economy of Taiwan has been ruined via double economical blows, one by Ma's pro-china policy (ECFA) to allow China to steal whatever economical advantages Taiwan used to enjoy and the other by wide spread corruption. Under Chen's presidency, all major government projects were carried either significantly within budget or completed way ahead of schedule. Under Ma, every project exceeds its original budget several times over and is delayed substantially with serious quality issues. We are talking about several hundred billions of NT dollars each year disappearing into a KMT corruption black hole. Corruption and wasteful spending are ruining Taiwan economically. A recent report by Liberty Times estimates that each Taiwanese (24 millions in total) is carrying nearly one million NT dollars (about US$35,000) in hidden national debt, half of them for paying retirement benefits for government employees, military staff, and teachers, who are traditionally strong KMT supporters. This is probably worse than Greece.
In the mean time, Taiwan is becoming a colony state to China. Ma opens up the boarder and let in Chinese tourists, students, and professionals. The Chinese tourists now hold their noses high and consider their trips to Taiwan as excursions of owners to examine their properties. Taiwan's police officers bow to Chinese tourists. Recently, a Chinese tourist raped a hotel maid in Kaohsiung and the police officer let him leave Taiwan without investigation. However, police officers are becoming more violent in treating their own citizens. Many college students were injured by the police when they carried out a peaceful sit-in demonstration, only recently. The starting salary of college graduates is now at the same level as that of 20 years ago. Chinese students enjoy scholarships and free full medical insurance in Taiwan and are allowed to compete for jobs. This Chinese student invasion is a global epidemic. In the US, there are nearly 200,000 Chinese students. In many US engineering graduate schools, Chinese students account for more than 50% of total student population. Most of these students are supported with scholarships and with an intention to stay in the US when they graduate. They mostly succeed in finding jobs in the US, squeezing out even the US students.
Ma has led Taiwan on a passage to ruin with the blessing from those blindfolded voters. President Chen and his supporters won't be the only victims. When a country fails, everybody is a victim, including those strong KMT supporters.
2013-05-05
Jay Tu
Professor, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
North Carolina State University
【References】
擲鞋扔馬英九 王獻極與賴芳徵遭起訴
http://www.libertytimes.com.tw/2013/new/may/5/today-p1.htm?Slots=P
貪瀆嫌疑人？柯文哲：奇怪耶！我要貪瀆什麼？
http://taiwanenews.com/doc/20130505101
