[3097] Editorial: Infamous legacy

Editorial: Infamous legacy

Translated by Lydia Ma

In recent weeks, Taiwan’s Supreme Prosecutors Office Special Investigation Panel (SIP) accused and indicted former President Lee Teng-hui of graft and money laundering. In response to these accusations, current President Ma Ying-jeou quickly called a press conference to steer clear and dissolve himself from all culpability and responsibility distance himself.

The President’s response triggered a joint statement issued by more than 20 registered organizations in Taiwan in which his words and promises to the nation were called into question. Signatories of the statement asked to know why, despite Ma’s promise of respecting judicial autonomy, this past 3 years of his presidency has only seen politicians from the DPP camp, his political foes, be prosecuted on graft charges.

Signatories also pointed out that this government has either dragged its feet on cases against politicians from the KMT camp suspected of various graft charges, or crimes dating back to Martial Law era, or found a scapegoat to take on the blame in the place of the guilty party.

The statement deduced that President Ma had been using the judiciary as a tool to exact revenge on his political opponents instead of using it to rid Taiwan of bad laws left from Martial Law era. It also accused Ma of contempt for democracy and human rights and pointed out that Ma’s ulterior motive was to revive a past era where the KMT had absolute rule over Taiwan.

In contrast, the 8 years during which the DPP was in government, the nation witnessed how it chose to move on, rather than exact revenge on its political opponents. Sadly, the DPP also fell short of abolishing evil laws left from the Martial Law era when they had a chance to do so, and the entire nation is suffering from the consequences of its neglect now.

To say the Ma administration is pro-China would be an understatement, for its behavior and tactics in dealing with political foes is eerily similar to CCP’s strategy decades ago during the Cultural Revolution.

Renown painter Antonio Ciseri once painted a masterpiece called “Ecce Homo”, which depicted Pontius Pilate handing over an innocent Jesus to those who wanted to crucify him. Much has been said about Pilate in the past two millennia and his trial of Jesus has been heavily scrutinized. He is seen as at times indecisive, at times unsettled, and at best a weak character who wanted to placate both the Roman Emperor and Jewish authorities.

Pilate absolved himself from all responsibility by washing his hands – or so he thought. But his legacy is retold daily throughout churches in the world whenever the Nicene Creed is recited and Christians affirm that Christ was indeed “crucified for us under Pontius Pilate”.

It’s evident now that no one in mainstream Christianity would say Pilate was an innocent bystander who didn’t know better, which brings us to our conclusion: President Ma’s press conference show is so reminiscent of Pilate’s hand-washing demonstration.