Is Allowing the Dong Chang to Continue Rampaging the Way of the DPP’s Soul-Searching?

Is Allowing the Dong Chang to Continue Rampaging the Way of the DPP’s Soul-Searching?

United Daily News Editorial (Taipei, Taiwan)

December 23, 2018

 Translation of an Excerpt

Control Yuan members Kao Yung-cheng and Eugene Jao, of the “Tsai Ing-wen faction,” investigated the case of conviction on final appeal involving electioneering bribery by former DPP legislator Chen Tsiao-long, accusing the court ruling that year of suspected "violations of laws and regulations"; such intervening in the judiciary system elicited a backlash in legal circles. The Taiwan Provincial High Court, the Association of Judges, the Association of Prosecutors, and the Association of Court Staff all issued stern protests and condemnations. However, similar incidents have happened before, and Control Yuan members of the “Tsai Ing-wen faction” probably will not be more reticent because of this. The core question still remains: Who in the world bestowed power on these people for rampaging?

The "intervention in individual judicial cases" by the Control Yuan members of the “Tsai Ing-wen faction” seems to have become an established practice. Earlier, Control Yuan member Chen Shi-meng claimed that he would seek Chen Shui-bian’s restitution of reputation and advocated that he would target the prosecutors and judges who investigated and tried Chen Shui-bian’s cases in those years in the name of “removing blemishes in the criminal justice system.” This particular incident had twisted the role of Control Yuan members to the extreme, but President Tsai, who nominated him, however, never tried to stop him.

The abuse of power has virtually become the most representative and ugliest scene of the Tsai government. Leaving aside acting for one’s self-interest on the part of Control Yuan members of the “Tsai Ing-wen faction,” the Ill-gotten Party Asset Settlement Commission, the Central Election Commission, the Transformational Justice Commission, and the Education Ministry are cases in point. Their acts in exceeding the law and authority are too numerous to list; it is absolutely not an overstatement to describe them as “Dong Chang phenomena.” This was why, during the nine-in-one elections, "exterminating Dong Chang" became a very powerful slogan.

After the DPP suffered a stunning defeat in the last elections, on the surface, the Tsai government claimed that it would review and engage in soul-searching; however, viewed from various indications, the Dong Chang phenomena are still in the present tense, progressive form without a trace of reticence. This "L'État, c'est moi" permeates the entire Tsai government and the DPP. Isn't it precisely Tsai Ing-wen and the DPP she leads that handed the authority to the hoodlums and allowed them to become "Dong Chang"?

[Editor’s note: Dong Chang is a Ming Dynasty secret police organization equivalent to the modern-day Gestapo.]

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