離開
進入《TAIPEI TIMES 焦點》 Foundation anticipates judicial reform conference
Members of non-governmental organizations yesterday walk around the Tsai Jui-yueh Dance Research Institute in Taipei’s Zhongshan District at a news conference held to promote this year’s Tsai Jui-yueh Dance Festival, which has adopted the theme of judicial reform. Photo: CNA
By Wen Yu-te and Jake Chung / Staff reporter, with staff writer
The Judicial Reform Foundation looks forward to the day when the government can proudly proclaim, to the applause of the public, that the judiciary has won the trust of the nation, as it will signify that Taiwan’s future has become significantly better, foundation president Joseph Lin （林永頌） said yesterday.
Lin made the comments during the opening ceremony of the 11th Tsai Jui-yeh Dance Festival, which has adopted the theme of judicial reform for its upcoming performances.
Lin said that in the lead-up to January’s presidential election, the foundation visited the three presidential candidates and asked each of them to hold a national affairs conference on judicial reforms if they were elected.
President Tsai Ing-wen （蔡英文） promised to hold such a conference, he said.
Tsai’s promise was repeated during her inaugural address on May 20, when she said a conference would be held last month.
However, the Presidential Office later announced that a conference would be held in the middle of this month and the president would be the convener.
A national conference must be held because people living under an ill-operated judiciary truly suffer, Lin said, adding that academics and law experts should not comprise more than half of the conference’s attendees so that non-legal specialists can also participate.
Lin was also critical of a speech delivered by former Judicial Yuan president Lai Hao-min （賴浩敏） on Tuesday.
“Why should Tsai say that the judiciary is unfit and not trusted by the people?” Lai said.
Lin said that Lai’s comments demonstrated the vast ideological distance that exists between law experts and the public.
He said that what should be considered is not whether the judiciary has become untrustworthy, but whether it was trustworthy to begin with.
While the government is responsible for the progression of justice, the people’s participation and involvement in judicial reform should take precedence over the government’s, Lin added.
In related news, representatives who presented the “People’s Judicial Reforms Announcement” in Hoklo, Chinese, Hakka, English and Tibetan have been invited to participate in this year’s Tsai Jui-yeh Dance Festival.
Of note is the Hoklo-speaking （also known as Taiwanese） representative Hsu Tzu-chiang （徐自強）, who was falsely accused of being an accomplice in the kidnap and murder of a real-estate businessman in 1995.
After a lawsuit lasting 21 years, the Supreme Court turned down an appeal filed by the High Court’s Prosecutors’ Office on Oct. 13 and ruled that Hsu was not guilty.
The dance festival starts today and runs through Sunday.
新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES
