Recently, I was assaulted inside a court house after a traffic court was finished. The police were standing beside me. The assailant told me that if I go outside that I was going to get hurt. My wife, who was present at the time, urged me not to go outside. After some while, the police officer said, “You fucking Americans should die.”
At this time, I was fed up and was about to go outside and fight it out. There was only one person, so I knew I was going to win. The police finally figured this out and reluctantly helped my wife and son out. They took them out the back way.
While this unbelievable situation was occurring, I asked them to call the Foreign Affairs Police: they refused! I then asked for identification, their badge numbers, or anything of the sort: they refused!
Later, I went to another police department and filed an assault report. The police assured me that they would convict this person. They had all the evidence (I saw it myself.): there were two police officers who witnessed it, there were two cameras that recorded it and several other witnesses.
When I got the case report back, the prosecutor would not prosecute because there wasn’t enough evidence. They couldn’t find the records and the police officers didn’t see anything even though they were recorded on the tapes of the incident.
To anybody who doubts that there is corruption in Taiwan, I have the absolute proof that it does occur. I have even talked to other attorneys. They said reluctantly that the courts are corrupt and that this person that assaulted me and threatened our lives is probably connected to or part of an organized crime ring. There is little that I can do. One suggested sending it to the Apple Daily.
So, just to illustrate the corruption in Taiwan, I want to send it to the Apple Daily. Does anyone know an email address or how to contact a reporter? I would love to embarrass some police officers over this.
What are you going to do? Save the world? Save Taiwan? Get rid of what you consider corruption but something that is common part of culture? Maybe better to save self.
This is Taiwan. It shouldn’t be like this. But it is.
A guy try to do the correct thing and act according to the law, but ends up getting worse than where they started. This is Taiwan. It shouldn’t be like this. But it is.
I was very surprised. I mean we had the video and then they lose it. The police officers guaranteed me that they would testify. We saw the video at the police station and the evidence was clear. There was no distortion! I want to give it to the Apple Daily, but I don’t know who to contact.
Appledaily probably gets a hundred of these submissions a day. What are they going to do anyway. Putting yourself out in public could come back to haunt.
Think about it: how is this likely to pan out? I spend a lot of time in a place where the police and the criminal underworld are basically the same thing, and where murder is an accepted way of solving personal disputes. Sickening as it is, the best way to deal with it is to keep your head down. Taiwan was like that not so very long ago, and although it’s been mostly cleaned up, some vestige of the Old Way still remains, and bizarrely it manages to co-exist alongside a more-or-less functioning society. Irritate the wrong people and there’s a small but finite chance you’ll disappear, or at least have some unpleasant experiences.
I completely understand how you feel right now, but realistically (a) you just got really unlucky and (b) there’s not much you can do.
Most of the police here are pretty normal, if inept. Most of them don’t hate foreigners. They keep the peace, it seems, by permitting a certain level of criminal activity as long as the crims keep it on the down low and don’t disrupt the larger harmony of society. Something similar happens with (say) corporate fraud, which is tolerated as long as taxes are paid and nobody gets hurt. It reminds me a lot of Terry Pratchett’s fantasy world in which all crime is organised and regulated by guilds.
As an ex-poster used to say: Taiwan is what it is, even when it isn’t.
The important part here is: did you give the scumbag a beating?
? Same one, or separate?
the Apple Daily.