Harsh Officialdom Framing Kuan Chung-ming: Witch-hunt in the Battle to Stay in Power?

 Harsh Officialdom Framing Kuan Chung-ming: Witch-hunt in the Battle to Stay in Power?

United Daily News Editorial (Taipei, Taiwan)

July 5, 2019

 Translation of an Excerpt

On the grounds of "eye-catching case in society", the Commission on Disciplinary Sanction of Public Functionaries took the initiative on July 2^nd to try in open court, for the first time, Kuan Chung-ming, president of National Taiwan University (NTU), following his impeachment by the Control Yuan (CY), allowing the public to fully witness how the DPP government used trumed-up charges to attack dissidents, as well as how the Dong Chang [Dong Chang is a Ming Dynasty secret police organization equivalent to the modern-day Gestapo.] in the CY framed in order to eradicate the innocent and patriotic. Kuan Chung-ming, in sadness and angst, was praying that he be "the last person to be politically persecuted"; this appeal sent a chill down the spines of many.

For over a year or so, the outside world has continued to witness that in order to block and then pluck Kuan Chung-ming, the Tsai government adopted various unlawful means to intrude into university autonomy, trampling on NTU's dignity. We all believed that the people, through the lessons of the ballot, could awaken to the DPP government that was feigning to be asleep; however, we had never thought that the DPP’s will was so alarming in the hot pursuit of its political dissidents, not even sparing the president of the highest institute of tertiary education in Taiwan.

Laughably, the CY members went to Heaven and Hell for searches, failing to dig out any traces of illegalities, finding only an income of manuscript fees and deeming it valued treasure; thus, they deliberately ignored the practices of organized media, using hodge-podge material as criminal evidence and passed the impeachment motion. The CY members didn’t want to understand and were too lazy to verify, even using speculation to reach conclusions, shooting at any shadow by wantonly placing other people’s articles as those of Kuan Chung-ming. If these were not trumped-up charges, then what were? If this was not framing, then what was?

In practice, all media outlets, with regard to writers invited to contribute articles, either regularly or irregularly, would never be considered as “adjunct jobs.” According to laws and regulations, the writers of invited contributions have never been regarded by the media as regular jobs within the organization or temporary work outside the organization. For this reason, from Constitutional Interpretation No. 11 and No. 71, to the restrictions on part-time jobs in the Public Functionaries Service Act, and even the pertinent official letter of the Ministry of Civil Service (under the Examination Yuan), could not be used to convict Kuan Chung-ming. Oblivious to the facts, CY members deliberately twisted laws and regulations, persecuting by trumping up charges in order to achieve political hot-pursuit. However, this kind of framed impeachment, using "unlawfully contributing articles as an adjunct job" as grounds, in so far as public functionaries for university professors are concerned, also seriously infringed on the basic civil rights of freedom of speech guaranteed by the Constitution.

From the Office of the President to the five Yuan, with the exception of the Examination Yuan, the Tsai government has, one after another, employed legislative power, executive power, judicial power, and control power to hot-pursue Kuan Chung-ming. Kuan Chung-ming cited The Biographies of Harsh Officials in the Book of History (written in the Han Dynasty), referring to a case not basing on the facts but craftily invoking stringent provisions to convict a person to describe the political persecution he suffered; this could be said to be an apt comparison. However, to use “harsh officialdom” as a metaphor for the CY members appointed by Tsai was in fact, too light; with regard to citing The Biographies of Harsh Officials to describe the Tsai government’s use of "transformational justice" and "national security" as pretexts to engage in systematic witch-hunt-style Green terror legislation and acts, it could be said to be apt and right to the point.

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