wfn.org | An appeal from the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan

["David Alexander" <alexa@mail.ttcs.org.tw>]

AN APPEAL BY PCT TO THE GLOBAL CHURCH FAMILY FOR PRAYERS CONCERNING THE  ABUSE OF JUSTICE AND VIOLATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS IN TAIWAN

>11 November 2008

On behalf of the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan (PCT) and out of  unyielding concern for the dignity and selfhood of the 23 million people  of our nation, as well as for peace in the Asia region, we sincerely  appeal to you our sisters and brothers in Christ to join us in  expressing concern and offering prayers for Taiwan.

Ever since the Legislative Elections of January 2008 when the  Nationalist Party (Kuomintang KMT) garnered the overwhelming majority of  seats and later the KMT candidate, Ma Ying-Jeou, won the Presidential  Election on 20 May 2008, the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan (PCT), along  with many others in our land, have held deep concerns and reservations  for the future of democracy and human rights in our country Taiwan.

Sadly, the performance of President Ma and his KMT administration the  past six months has time and again underscored our fears.  We in  particular express our grave concern for recent events:

1) the detentions of both present and former government officials of the  opposition party, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) accused of  corruption.  We understand one or two detainees have been charged but  several accused are still held without being charged and incommunicado,  this is a basic violation of due process of justice and rule of law.   Furthermore, we are concerned the prosecutor's office is seemingly  leaking information to the press while the accused are unable to defend  themselves.  This "trial by press" also violates justice and the norm  that any accused should be considered innocent until proven guilty in a  court of law.  Since only members of the DPP opposition party are  targeted this action implies the KMT is "using" the justice system to  retaliate the former government under Chen's administration.

2) the visit to Taiwan (3-7 Nov 2008) of Mr. Chen Yun-Lin, Chairman of  the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS) from  China; and the signing of the four cross-strait accords between the  ARATS chairman Chen and the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF)  represented by its Chairman, Chiang Pin-Kung.  This action to develop  direct aviation, shipping, market trade and economic relations with  China accelerated fears that the methods used by the Ma Administration  are costly in terms of the legal process, Taiwan's dignity and  sovereignty as well as being a real threat to democracy in Taiwan.

3)  the violation of human rights, freedom of speech and expression,  undergirded by the government's action to deploy more than 10,000 police  including riot police officers, to Taipei city to "guard" the visiting  dignitary Chen and the sixty people who accompanied him.  These measures  to "guard and protect" the visiting envoy from China were excessive and  disturbingly reminiscent of the dark years under Martial Law.

With this letter we add a brief overview of some of the events of last  week that hopefully will help you further understand the reason for our  concerns.

On behalf of the PCT and Taiwan, thank you for your support and we ask  that you kindly share this prayer request with your church members.

>Sincerely yours, in grace and peace

>Rev. Chang Te-Chien (Andrew)

>General Secretary

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>SUPPORTING DOCUMENTATION

Taiwan 3-7 Nov 2008 during the visit of Mr. Chen Yun-Lin, Chairman of  the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS) from  China and the signing of the four cross-strait accords between the ARATS  chairman Chen and the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) represented by  its Chairman, Chiang Pin-Kung.

We cannot highlight fully the details here but draw your attention to  some pointers that will hopefully, help clarify to you our deep  concerns.  Contrary to the claims of President Ma that he represents the  views and interests of all the 23 million people of this country  thousands of protestors gathered in Taipei daily to express their deep  concern and opposition to the visit of ARATS, the legal process of  signing the so called four cross-strait accords and the deployment of  thousands of police.

Police prohibited protestors from waving or displaying the national flag  and one CD shop was closed for playing Taiwanese music too loud in the  vicinity of a hotel where Chen was dined.  On the other hand, ironically  those wielding the flag of communist China were not approached.

In a blatant attempt to avoid a scheduled protest by the DPP on Thursday  6 Nov. originally arranged to coincide with an afternoon meeting between  President Ma and chairman Chen, the government at short notice brought  the meeting forward to the morning and what was announced as 40 minutes  audience was drastically reduced to 7 minutes before Chen and his  entourage were whisked away to their next appointment.  Such action did  nothing but add fuel to fire.

The Association of Taiwan Journalist (ATJ) also released a statement  accusing the government of violating press freedom as they sought to  cover the visit of ARATS Chen and there were incidents of news reporters  beaten by the police during angry clashes with protestors.  Members of  the public also believed there were undercover persons mingling among  the protestors instigating disruptive behavior.

The Presbyterian Church in Taiwan (PCT) Church and Society Committee to  protest the violation of human rights, to express our deep rooted  concern for the safeguarding of Taiwan's sovereignty and democracy as  well as upholding peace in our society, arranged a separate  demonstration on Thursday (6 Nov) walking from Chinan Presybterian  Church towards the Grand Hotel where Chen and the ARATS personnel were  accommodated though they were not in.  As was the practice all that  week, inevitably, riot police barricading the road denied us access even  to the vicinity of the hotel.  PCT protestors simply sat down to sing  and after a prayer for the police etc. we dispersed.

At this current time of writing, students in various locations in Taiwan  are staging a sit in protest and have issued a written petition  demanding (1) the President and Premier apologize for the use of  excessive force by police, (2) that two senior police and security  personnel step down and (3) that the government scrap the Parade and  Assembly Law.

For related news reports in English visit the archives of:

http://www.taipeitimes.com  and  http://www.etaiwannews.com