Homicides Prove that Politicians Evade Problems

  Homicides Prove that Politicians Evade Problems

United Daily News Editorial (Taipei, Taiwan)

June 25, 2018

 Translation of an Excerpt

A homicide case involving an archery coach who killed and dismembered his female student occurred in Taipei City’s “Huashan Grand Prairie,” shocking the entire country. Although the details of the case still await clarification, the fact that the homicide took place near an Art and Culture Center in the heart of the capital city, and was also related to an activities program established on an application filed by a civic group and granted by the government was indeed beyond our imagination that such a gruesome homicide could have occurred. In just the span of one month, three homicides with the dismemberment of bodies occurred in Taiwan; besides causing panic among the public, they also aroused reflections on the decline of law and order as well as the rule of law.

The fact that the case caused astonishment and fear among the public is principally because the recent similar homicide cases all occurred in private residences, while the “Huashan homicide case,” however, occurred in a public plaza set up with the agreement of the government, and in a place not far from the National Police Agency, the Cabinet House, and the DPP Central Headquarters, where police deployment has been intense. However, when the homicide happened, both the central and local governments treated it with indifference, with all parties only thinking of ways to shirk their accountability as soon as possible so as to avoid the homicide case affecting the election campaigns.

In recent years, quite a few protests and demonstrations that were either unlawful or disorderly have happened; however, because political figures have reaped political benefits, they deliberately tolerated and even encouraged such unlawful acts; this is the principal reason that the yardstick of the rule of law has deviated. The Sunflower Movement’s occupation of the Legislative Yuan and the Cabinet House were the most concrete cases in point. The public authority with which police enforce the law was thus viewed with contempt, the rule of law in society has been trampled upon. The disorderly behavior at the “Huashan Grand Prairie” was only one of its microcosms.

The DPP government has been in office for over two years, and many major criminal cases have happened, but to date, it has not executed any death row inmates. For this, Cabinet spokesperson Hsu Kuo-yung only lightly stated: "This has been handed to the Justice Ministry; it is the Ministry’s responsibility." Ko Wen-je’s attitude vis-à-vis the Hua Shan homicide case, tackling the lighter side and avoiding the difficult one, has also exposed his “Teflon” mentality. As mayor of the capital city, he, however, evaded responsibility as administrator of the activities at the “Huashan Grand Prairie”; in order to court a minority of the public, he overlooked the loosening of order and did not dare to deal with it with an iron fist. His calculations were, of course, a fear of losing the support of the younger groups.

When major criminal cases occur, what the people want is only the protection of personal safety, but politicians, however, only think about shirking their own responsibilities. No wonder problems remain unsolved.

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