Shih Ming-te was indicted the other day for not having a rally permit.
One has to wonder about the timing of this - one year after the fact - and the motivation for it?
The only one I can see coming out a winner from this is Ma Ying-jeou; especially if he is found guilty.
I can hear his cries already: “I am not really guilty, but a victim of political persecution just like poor Shih Ming-te!”
“Only by voting for me can Taiwan restore its democracy and end this abuse of judicial power by the DPP.”
Yup. This was stupid and short-sighted, DPP driven. Clever and diabological if the Blues in the prosecutor’s office are running the show. Any way you look at it, the law is a relic of the authoritarian era and should be repealed.
This is not DPP driven. The prosecutor’s office of Taipei, who brought the charges, had no instructions from the executive. The reasoning the prosecutor gave for bringing charges is that Shih said openly that he didn’t care that this demonstration was illegal, he expressed no regret (and althought he prosecutor didn’t point htis out, Shih said he didnt’ even care if he went to jail for it).
To be honest, I hope A-bian pardons any sentence Shih incurs for his perfectly intentional violation of the law (because I think most people agree the way it’s written, it favors the government over protesters).
Geez, can’t they just charge Ma Ying Jeo, the Golden Horse, with being a unconscionable prick and get it over with? Not that any charge would stick, nor even if it did, would it matter to his chances of being elected. The KMT sycophants love a character with an ‘interesting’ history to lord it over them and quietly slip them a mickey while they’re being taken from behind without knowing.
Mind you, I would love to see the famously unemployed Shih get his just desserts too. “Send me your money so i can put my girls through good schools and meditate on my misfortune in my room.”
Did someone say the Public prosecutor’s office is blue-biased, and not get challenged? When I said that, people jumped down my throat and burned my eyes out with red hot pokers. What’s changed now that the shoe is on the other foot? where’s AC dropout when you need him to defend the virtue of the KMT machine?
uhm yeah, that’s why two opposition LY members were also indicted with that ex-DPP member. CSB knows no lows in his quest for political retribution. Green terror grips the island like never before.
The funny part is that the KMT says that the DPP is holding back the revision of the law, which was “presented” by the KMT, and “aborted” by the green minority (the only times I remembered this happened it was widely shown on TV, so why this one slipped through the media?)
[quote=“TainanCowboy”]Permits for a rally/demonstration are “a relic of an authoritarian regime”?
Interesting observation. Pretty much SOP in every city in the rest of the world.[/quote]
Aargh! The law itself is a relic and was used to prevent demonstrations. It’s not the idea of registering I’m against, but the law needs to be changed. Sorry, was not clear.
So that only pro-DPP or pro-TSU demonstrations are allowed…
Protest at the international airport (What’s it called these days), Protest in the streets of Taipei, or link hands across the island.
All those protest were even more disruptive. But as long as they were for the Green cause, the government need not harass their leaders and organizers.
The grip of green terror that gags the good people of Taiwan.
sorry, but how many of pro-blue or anti-green demonstrations we saw that were far more disruptive than those? Starting with everytime that KMT loses… and the red army one wasn’t disruptive, of course not - specially if you live in the US… now try to make a living in Taipei…
[quote=“Vorkosigan”][quote=“TainanCowboy”]Permits for a rally/demonstration are “a relic of an authoritarian regime”?
Interesting observation. Pretty much SOP in every city in the rest of the world.[/quote]
Aargh! The law itself is a relic and was used to prevent demonstrations. It’s not the idea of registering I’m against, but the law needs to be changed. Sorry, was not clear.
Michael[/quote]Vorko -
Ok…understand better. Does Taiwan also require that the group applying for demonstration/parade permits post a bond?
This is required in the US and at least 2 other countries I am familiar with. It can be applied against damages if the “participants” do damage to property or require extra police or security because of violence of crowd behavior.
Just part of living in a lawful society…personal responsibility and all that.
Obviously none. Since all those demostrators are being suppressed by the government of Green Terror.
Don’t blame the DPP pathetic economic policy on the KMT. If it wasn’t for the fact most able body Taiwanese have been forced to seek opportunities in USA or PRC in recent years, instead of Taiwan, I’m sure the protest would have been larger against the DPP.
Blame the DPP for social discontent in Taiwan.
The price of power is that you get all the fame…or all the blame. Can’t afford to stay in power, then get out, and let people who are capable run the province. If the DPP doesn’t even have the ability to manage a province, then seeking statehood really is a pipe dream.
Blame, blame, blame… can’t you do anything else from the safety of your USA home? If you’re so pro-China, why don’t you put your money where your mouth is and go and live there. Or is it standard practice for intelligence agents to live abroad and push their fifth column agendas from foreign shores? Does it give them more credence? Are they there to keep an eye on overseas Taiwanese and ‘keep them in line’? Do you sell Mao memorabilia? These and many other important questions keep me awake at night.
And on the subject of your derogatory little province comment, what province would that be, then? and a province of which country? Surely you jest when you imply that China, a communist state declared some 60 years ago, has anything to do with Taiwan, most recently a vanquished Japanese colony. Don’t you know there is only ONE China, and there is also only ONE Taiwan, and that there is a vast gulf between them. Well, at least a wide Strait.
There are two provinces in Taiwan: Taiwan, including Orchid and Green islands, and the island province of PengHu, MatZu and KinMen. Isn’t that it?
[quote]Ok…understand better. Does Taiwan also require that the group applying for demonstration/parade permits post a bond?
This is required in the US and at least 2 other countries I am familiar with. It can be applied against damages if the “participants” do damage to property or require extra police or security because of violence of crowd behavior.[/quote]
Not that I know of, and there is no standard for the police to decide – it’s all arbitrary. That’s why the law needs to be revised — so it is a registered protests with a bond, and doesn’t have to obtain “permission” just notification, and there is due process for refusals. You know, make it democratic in spirit. The political tussle over the law is ridiculous, with both sides seeking to preserve it so they can use it over the other, and each blaming the other for not passing a revised law.
Chen needs to pardon Shih and his dupes, immediately. Take back the moral high ground from that turncoat, and stop giving him free publicity.
I think that he won’t pardon his son-in-law, why should he? His daughter already made clear that she doesn’t want anything to do with her husband father, so why would she want to have him out?
And how can he pardon himself? For what, not making all that he should have done, like clean all the propaganda in this country, shove 2 fingers in the CCP bottoms, put most of the county chiefs and fellows into prison, etc… Only when the government decides to stripe down the current “status quo” (which basically means state of corruption) and put a new organic system into work, there will be a change. Until then, it is just the chronic cancer that the KMT put into Taiwan that is working, no matter who is in charge.
I know, I know, there’s nothing funny about the extra-judicial killings, suppression of free speech, sustained campaign of domestic and overseas spying on Taiwanese people and foreigners, and jailing of advocates of freedom and democracy perpetrated by the agents of the Green Terror.