The Bill Entitled “Statute Governing Transformational Justice” Will Be a Harm Far Greater than the Statute Governing Ill-Gotten Party Assets

 The Bill Entitled “Statute Governing Transformational Justice” Will Be a Harm Far Greater than the Statute Governing Ill-Gotten Party Assets

 United Daily News Editorial (Taipei, Taiwan, ROC)

March 6, 2017

Translation of an Except

President Tsai Ying-wen declared on February 28 that she would place the bill entitled the "Statute Governing Transformational Justice" as a priority bill, in the hope that legislative action would be completed in this session of the Legislative Yuan. Judging from the situation in which the DPP now controls both the Executive and Legislative branches of government, it will not be difficult to fulfill this declaration. However, once the bill is enacted, the harm to Taiwan's democracy, the rule of law, and human rights would inevitably be exacerbated to a higher level.

When the Legislative Yuan last year enacted the "Statute Governing Ill-gotten Party Assets", public opinion criticized it as probably being "unconstitutional," pointing out its apparent violations of jurisprudence, including "presumption of guilt", "too long a period of retroactivity" and "violation of the principle of separation of powers." When we examine the contents of the bill entitled "Statute Governing Transformational Justice," we find it not only contains all three aforementioned unconstitutional features, but it is also more extensive in scope. The authority of the competent government agency is greater and the penalties more severe. This proposed piece of legislation, which aims at "promoting transformational justice", would, we are afraid, become another masterpiece of "injustice."

The Tsai government has spent a lot of time and energy enacting the Statute Governing Ill-gotten Party Assets, and now wants a new bill to become law. Put it bluntly, it’s all for political objectives. As a political party born out of a movement against authoritarianism, the DPP, after having attained complete governance, now practices authoritarianism and attacks its political foes using means in the guise of democracy; it is indeed disheartening. If the Tsai government still has a modicum of respect for democracy and the rule of law, it must stop at the brink of the abyss and no longer utilize abusive means to consolidate its political power. Otherwise, democracy will mount an overwhelming backlash, and sooner than anticipated.

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