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Ma sincere in wanting to fight corruption

Ma sincere in wanting to fight corruption

國政評論 國安

作者: 洪健昭 ( 2010年8月4日 16:41)
關鍵字:Ma Ying-jeou Judges Act anti-corruption body

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(圖片來源:Wikimedia Commons, Information Technology Agreement parties.)

President Ma Ying-jeou is nursing a shiner these days. A one-two punch hit him, the first blow being his announcement of the hasty creation of a new commission against corruption and the second his ill-considered suggestion that two stops be skipped to make a proposed mass rapid transit system run faster between Taoyuan International Airport and Taipei. Now that Ma-bashing has become a national pastime, it's no wonder the president has been panned by practically everybody.

The suggestion, taken seriously by the Ministry of Transportation and Communications, was to shorten by two to three minutes the time needed to travel from the airport and the metropolis by closing two stations in a new special municipality of New North City, which is the existing county of Taipei to be upgraded to a lofty status on a par with its metropolitan namesake. Of course, every politician who has any interest in Xin-Bei-Shi (New North City) is up in arms against Ma for cutting off residents of Wugu and Linkou from the MRT service that won't be opening to traffic for a couple of years. (No official English translation of the name of the new special municipality is available, and we prefer New North City to Shinbeishi, the transliteration of the title some media like to use.)

But it's grossly unfair to doubt the beleaguered president's sincerity in carrying on the judicial reform he has promised by forming the new commission under the Ministry of Justice. Some critics recall the commission was proposed by the preceding Democratic Progressive Party administration and voted down by the then opposition Kuomintang. They believe the hasty creation of the commission resulted from a change of mind on the part of the now ruling Kuomintang, which is intended to divert attention from corruption allegations against three Taipei High Court judges and the resignation of Lai Ying-jaw as president of the Judicial Yuan. Others wonder if the commission might end up being another — and bigger — paper tiger no corruption-prone members of the judiciary would be afraid of. The skeptics have a point here, though. The commission has to be staffed by men and women of probity, who are fast becoming rare animals in our “money talks” society that boasts a shining symbol in the person of former President Chen Shui-bian, who is awaiting the decision by the Supreme Court after he has been convicted of corruption and graft as well as money laundering at the first and second trials. But they seem to have conveniently forgotten that they shouldn't complain the president hasn't tried to give their paper tiger some teeth, if not fangs. They urge Ma to have the proposed Judges Act rammed through the Legislative Yuan, where his Kuomintang controls more than a two-thirds majority.

The fact is that the lawmakers amended Article Six of the Anti-Corruption Act in April last year — less than a year after the corrupt Chen had bowed out — to punish those public servants for failure to account for how they have acquired questionable property and assets. The trouble is that the law as amended has not been enforced vigorously. Well, public prosecutors, not the legislators and President Ma, are to blame. We are certain prosecutors of the Special Counsel would hold the three High Court judges accountable for not making clear how they have added to their wealth. That is going to be one more count on the indictment the prosecutors are scheduled to present in no time.

There is also a stipulation in the law governing the declaration of assets by public functionaries that their possessions shall be commensurate with their remuneration. Like the amended article, this stipulation has been largely ignored. If it were obeyed, the internal affairs department of each and every government agency would automatically start investigation when any discrepancy is found between the declared assets of officials and their lawful earnings. Internal investigators are not prosecutors, but they can find out — if they try — wrongdoers who will be prosecuted, convicted and duly punished. And the truth is that little has been done to enforce the laws to the letter, by and large because those honest law-enforcement personnel knew their anti-corruption effort would come to almost naught while President Chen was taking the lead to rake in dirty money and many of his top aides were following the leader.

That does not mean we shouldn't have the Judges Act, which is expected to cull the judiciary. Ma, who sincerely wants the judicial reform, will have it passed by the time the commission against corruption is inaugurated.

But there is one thing we all have to bear in mind. No matter how complete the proposed act may be and no matter how hard the new commission may try to ferret out corrupt officials and judges, corruption can never be rooted out. Where there is government, there is corruption. It is true for all ages and in all places. All we can do is to minimize the damage government corruption may do us, although most of our public servants, including judges and prosecutors, are honest, hard-working men and women.

Ma knows it full well. He launched the judicial reform as soon as he had been sworn in. The commission will be inaugurated and the bill to cull the judiciary signed into law, albeit both have room for improvement, as part of his effort to have justice done to the best of his ability.

〈本文僅供參考,不代表本會立場〉
(本文刊載於99.08.02,The China Post 8版)

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