(圖片來源：Wikimedia Commons, Information Technology Agreement parties.)
After London-based The Economist called President Ma Ying-jeou a bumbler last month, he bristled and tried to explain away his failure to get Taiwan's house in order, but on Human Rights Day, celebrated on last Monday, he didn't bumble.
Just like U.S. President George W. Bush who was attacked with a pair of shoes at Baghdad on Dec. 15, 2008, Ma had two shoes, plus hats and tote bags, thrown at him at a Human Rights Day event at Taipei's Jingmei Human Rights Park. Bush was at a news conference when Iraqi television journalist Mustadar al-Zaidi stood up and shouted “this is a goodbye kiss from the Iraqi people, dog” before throwing a shoe at him, which narrowly missed. With his second shoe, which Bush also managed to dodge, al-Zaidi said: “This is for the widows and orphans and all those killed in Iraq.”
Showing the soles of shoes to someone is a sign of contempt in Arab culture. Calling some one dog is a typical Arab name-calling.
While Ma was delivering a key-note speech, Wang Hsien-chi, convener of the 908 Taiwan State-Founding Movement, demanded a pardon for former President Chen Shui-bian, who is doing time for corruption and graft, and finding no response, took off his shoes and threw them. Neither of them hit President Ma, while Wang's colleagues and followers of Tsai Ding-guei, convener of the Alliance for Referendum for Taiwan, tossed hats and tote bags, shouting “down with Ma Ying-jeou!” Al-Zaidi was wrestled down and arrested by security guards, but Ma's security guards just made a human wall for protection and he was able to finish his speech.
No one was arrested and he proved he wasn't bumbler. Incidentally, 908 stands for Sept. 9, the day when the Peace Treaty of San Francisco was signed in 1951, with Japan giving up Taiwan and the Republic of China being no signatory. Wang regards the date as Day One for founding a republic of Taiwan. And President Chen claims he has raked in millions upon millions of dollars for building that state.
Tsai, a Taiwan University civil engineering professor, called this incident an “exceptional measure” to protest because President Ma has refused to listen to an impatient call for Chen's pardon, while Su Tseng-chang, chairman of the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), said copycat shoe-throwing isn't the right way to protest. For once, at the very least, Su said the right thing.
Demanding Ma to step down because of his “bumbling” may not be unreasonable, but Su bumbled by charging that the erosion of human rights with regard to the incompetent judiciary and media since the president took place has placed Taiwan's proud democracy in jeopardy. It's ridiculous for Su to call the attention of the international community, without which Taiwan may disappear from the democratic world.
Though Su did not cite the conviction of Mr. Graft as a shining example of human rights violation by the prosecution, he certainly meant it when he blamed public prosecutors for indicting a host of DPP public officeholders who were acquitted for lack of evidence. As a matter of fact, all opposition party leaders insist that Chen is politically persecuted. And that's the reason why they want him pardoned or given a medical parole. In other words, Mr. Graft's human rights were violated and a remedy has to be made.
Human rights haven't eroded in Taiwan over the past 4 1/2 years. The International Convention Covenant of Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights have been made Taiwan's law of the land. Well, there is one instance of human rights violation, which, however, was instigated by the opposition party. Chen Wei-ting, a graduate student at Tsing Hua University who was asked by DPP legislators to take part as an observer in an interpellation session of the Education and Culture Committee of the Legislative Yuan, where he called Minister of Education Chiang Wei-ning names. The young graduate student called Dr. Chiang a liar and a hypocrite, violating the human rights of the education minister in the name of freedom of speech. Dr. Chiang didn't bumble, either. He condoned the Young Turk.
One trait of opposition party leaders is their holier-than-thou attitude. Anything Ma does to improve relations between Taiwan and China is an act of selling out our beloved homeland, while their own effort to do so is for the good of the people of Taiwan. President Chen's incarceration and indictment of DPP public officeholders are political persecution and therefore violation of human rights, while the Tsing Hua student's name-calling is an exercise of his freedom of speech that is constitutionally protected. In a nutshell, they tend to believe human rights are something for them and their ilk alone to enjoy, a privilege denied all others.
Even from behind the bars, Mr. Graft is trying to form a new party to exercise his civil and political rights in accordance with one of the international covenants. Mr. Su has just launched a “Train of Fury” at Taipei's Longshan Temple where his party under the divine protection of the Goddess of Mercy or male Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara kicked off a protest campaign against Mr. Bumbler, which is scheduled to culminate in a demonstration in front of the Office of the President on Jan. 13 to manifest the people's ire at the bumbling administration since 2008.
All DPP leaders have a very short memory. Have they forgotten that their eight-year administration is much more of a bumbler than Mr. Bumbler's? Well, Mr. Su bumbled again.
〈本文僅供參考，不代表本會立場〉
（本文刊載於101.12.17 The China Post 4版）
王順民
(
11月22日 15:13
)
劉新圓
(
2007年10月4日 15:04
)
