A Gov’t that Forces People to Choose Between Sticks and Hammers

 A Gov’t that Forces People to Choose Between Sticks and Hammers

United Daily News Editorial (Taipei, Taiwan)

December 25, 2017

 Translation of an Excerpt

As the National Women's League (NWL) refused to sign the administrative contract forsaking its assets, Interior Minister Yeh Jiunn-rong announced the removal of Cecilia Yen Koo (辜嚴倬雲) and Yeh Chin-fong (葉金鳳) from their posts as NWL chairwoman and vice chairwoman, respectively; such severe disposition has rarely been seen in history. What was the NWL’s crime that led to such treatment? In a nut shell, it was because of the "wrong color" and "huge assets."

The NWL was targeted by the Ill-gotten Party Assets Settlement Commission (IPASC) as an "affiliated organization" of the Kuomintang (KMT). From the beginning of the year, the IPASC and the Interior Ministry have utilized a two-pronged approach. One, they held a public hearing and wrote an investigation report; the other, at the request of the IPASC, an official letter was sent to the NWL, asking the organization to provide data related to the “troop cheering surcharges” allocated to it several decades ago to "clear itself." As a long time has elapsed, the NWL could not provide complete accounting books for over six decades in the past; hence, the Ministry of Interior, on the pretext that the NWL would not accept supervision, declared that it would order dispositions in accordance with the law.

"Between the devil--slaughtering by the IGPASC, and the deep blue sea--the Interior Ministry’s pursuit to kill,” if the NWL would not agree to be beaten unconscious by  the Interior Ministry’s sticks, it would be smashed to pieces by the IGPASC with hammers. Would the two options conform with the general public’s perception of justice?

The establishment of the NWL has the background of a special era; talking about "transformation" to donate some of its assets for public causes should be an outcome acceptable by the majority of the public. The Tsai government’s approach, however, focused on "all-out pursuit to kill" to achieve its goal of "all-out take-over." Such a government is despicable and hurts the hearts of the public.

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