President Tsai, Please Listen with Your Ears; Hsu Kuo-yung, Mind Your Mouth

 President Tsai, Please Listen with Your Ears; Hsu Kuo-yung, Mind Your Mouth

United Daily News Editorial (Taipei, Taiwan)

May 15, 2018

 Translation of an Excerpt

The university council meeting of National Taiwan University (NTU) once again refused to accept the Education Ministry’s disposition that exceeded the law, asking the Education Ministry to issue the president’s letter of appointment as soon as possible in accordance with the University Act and other regulations. The Ministry of Education, however, remained oblivious to NTU’s resistance, insisting that NTU must restart the selection process, rectifying the shortcomings. Facing this deadlock, former Vice President Annette Lu and former Premier Chang San-cheng, in a rare move, issued a joint statement demanding that the Ministry of Education “return to the rule of law,” and appoint Kuan Chung-ming in accordance with the law so as not to destroy the opportunity of Blue-Green reconciliation.

After the Education Ministry decided to pluck Kuan Chung-ming, President Tsai, in a media interview, asked, however, that the public accept the Education Ministry’s "professional decision." May we ask, could this decision that exceeded the law and abused authority, using the chronology of holding an independent directorship on a business board to negate the democratic procedure of the selection committee, truly be called "professional"? Why doesn’t President Tsai refer to the "University Act" and determine whether the Ministry of Education is authorized to deny a university president following the selection process? The same goes with the Cabinet. Premier Lai Ching-te has attempted to avoid being directly linked to this incident, but Cabinet spokesman Hsu Kuo-yung repeatedly spoke publicly with a loud voice, claiming that Kuan Chung-ming, by assuming an independent directorship on the board of Taiwan Mobile before a contract on “industry/academia cooperation” was signed, “violated the law.” Didn’t Hsu know that the change of NTU internal regulations only related to the flow of the review process? Could a government spokesman holding a big mic talk without doing his due diligence?

The development of the plucking Kuan case to date has proven the depth and evil of political intervention; this has been the collective will of the entire government. Hence, Premier Lai said, "I am bolstered by the spirit of self-righteousness," meaning Kuan has to be plucked. In the DPP’s dealings, there has never been an option of “concession”; however, the Tsai government must assess: if the NTU deadlock continues to develop, not only would the Ministry of Education’s administration be mired in a state of collapse because of the boycott and dissatisfaction of various circles, but the government image of abusing power and authority would deteriorate on a daily basis and feelings of social discontent would climb, eventually becoming a great variable impacting the election campaign. We urge that President Tsai listen to the vox populi and Hsu Kuo-yung mind his mouth, both listening to the voices of the public.

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