Su Tseng-chang Cold-Bloodedly Counts the Votes

 Su Tseng-chang Cold-Bloodedly Counts the Votes

China Times Editorial (Taipei, Taiwan)

October 30, 2019

 Translation of an Excerpt

The death sentence deprives a human being of his life and is the ultimate punishment for a criminal offender. Although anti-death sentence groups have repeatedly advocated the repeal of the death sentence, Taiwan’s society has a high degree of consensus regarding the maintenance of the death sentence, and also shows dissatisfaction with the delay in executing the death sentences on the part of the Tsai government, which has identified itself with the repeal of the death sentence. Premier Su Tseng-chang, a couple of days ago, advocated in the Legislative Yuan that criminals convicted and sentenced to death on final appeal should be executed; is it a change of policy to court the public, or is it threatening Hong Konger Chan Tong-kai, who killed his girlfriend in Taiwan, not to come back to Taiwan? This is indeed intriguing. Nevertheless, if Su used the death sentence, which takes away a man’s life, for political calculations, it most definitely would be cold-blooded behavior unacceptable to the people.

In reality, the Tsai government has been in favor of repealing the death sentence; not only does President Tsai Ing-wen claim that repealing the death sentence is a universal value, the DPP government has also pledged to gradually repeal the death sentence. So much so that, since President Tsai came to office, she has delayed the execution of death sentences, eliciting strong dissatisfaction from the people; at the present, there are still 39 condemned death row inmates in prisons. To court favors of anti-death sentence groups, the government delays executions; to court vox populi, the government then speaks in a high-sounding and stern tone that death sentences should be executed. The Tsai government has an avowed goal of pursuing the repeal of the death sentence, but how much effort has it made in persuading the public and in communicating the concept? Now Premier Su’s version has become hardened; is it aiming at overthrowing the foundation of President Tsai’s policy? Examing the underlying thought, is it really based on the insistence of equal justice before the law, or political calculations?

Things are actually very simple; the homicide and relevant evidence are all in Taiwan. When the suspect wants to surrender himself, with respect to criminal justice, the government should of course take him in to face justice. At the same time when Premier Su sternly proclaimed that capital offenders convicted and sentenced on final appeal should be executed, when the Tsai government meticulously calculated the electoral gains and losses, have the high echelons in the Presidential Palace and the Cabinet ever though that a 20-year-old girl, who was pregnant, was killed in Taiwan, her tragic and miserable story, as well as her parents’ sorrows and pain, also merited humanitarian concerns and deserved justice?

We support the government in executing the death sentence in accordance with the law, but we oppose Premier Su’s cold-blooded political calculations.

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