wfn.org | TCN: Control Yuan President warns against legalization of casinos

["Taiwan Church News" <enews@pctpress.org>]

>      Taiwan Church News

>3004 Edition

>September 21-27, 2009

Control Yuan President warns against legalization of casinos

>Reported by Chiou Kuo-rong

>Written by Lydia Ma

A referendum on whether or not to build casinos in Penghu Island  will take place

on September 26th and Anti-Gambling Legislation Alliance suspects  the process

leading up to it may have contradicted with regulations governing  voting. Alliance

members and casino opponents assembled together on September 17th  to pay

a visit to Control Yuan President Wang Chien-shien to ask that he  appeal to the

Supreme Court on their behalf to stop the referendum from being  held.

Alliance members held a demonstration on September 21st outside  the Ministry

of Justice to protest Minister of Justice Wang Ching-feng’s  recent comment that

Penghu District Prosecutor Wu Hsun-lung’s remarks against  casinos were

“inappropriate.” Alliance members lashed back at Wang  Ching-feng for rejecting

and undermining good counsel and also delivered a complaint letter  to Wang.

The letter stated that though Wu is a prosecutor, he should enjoy  freedom of

speech like everyone else, and Wang shouldn’t shun good  counsel and overlook

>corrupt officials.

Alliance members met with Wang Chien-shien on the afternoon of the  17th and

Presbyterian Church in Taiwan (PCT) Associate General Secretary  Kho Sing-

Doh was also present. Kho was pleased to meet with Wang who is  also a

Christian and outlined two key positions from PCT’s  standpoint.

First, the Bible clearly states that greed is the root of all  evil. Though the

government is determined to go ahead with casinos, Christians  believe that it will

be detrimental to the rest of society and lead to moral  backsliding. Therefore,

churches are vehemently opposed to policies supporting gambling  and casinos.

Second, this is a spiritual battle between the forces of good and  evil because the

devil is clearly taking advantage of human weakness. Hence,  Christians who hold

positions of authority, such as Wang Chein-shien, are called to  speak out and

take action and fight policies that promote gambling.

After listening to his guests, Wang first explained that according  to the powers

granted to him as Control Yuan President in the constitution, he  can only

intervene and call for investigations after the Executive Yuan has  begun

administering policies. He does not have the authority to  intervene in the

upcoming referendum or confront Penghu officials before the  referendum takes place.

Regarding appealing to the Supreme Court to verify whether the  referendum

complies with regulations government voting and whether it is  legal, Wang

replied that the Control Yuan was in no position to appeal to the  Supreme Court

because such an authority wasn’t accorded to the Control Yuan  President in the

>constitution.

Wang clarified that appeals to the Supreme Court can be made only  when one of

the following three situations occur: 1-There are conflicts  between government

departments in administering the law, 2-Private citizens,  corporations, or political

parties are not satisfied with a lower court’s ruling, 3-More  than one-third of the

legislature petitions that a bill be examined for its  constitutionality.

Furthermore, Control Yuan members had done some research on this  issue and

found that this referendum didn’t conflict with other laws.  After explaining these

technicalities, Wang said the Control Yuan couldn’t intervene  in this issue for

>now.

However from a personal and spiritual standpoint, Wang fully  supported the

alliance’s efforts and its stand against setting up casinos  to lure tourists. “We

love Taiwan, and we have a duty and a right to speak up against  anything that

may harm Taiwan – including myself in my capacity as President  of the Control

>Yuan,” he said.

Wang said setting up casinos will surely be detrimental to  Penghu’s future and if

the referendum passes, it will unleash a series of evils. When  Penghu residents

realize the harm of casinos, it will be too late to make any  reparations. “I hope

Penghu residents will have enough courage to vote against this  proposal,” said

>Wang.

Anti-Gambling Legislation Alliance convener Ven. Chao Hwei said  the alliance

realized there was nothing the Control Yuan could do, however,  having the

support of Wang in this battle against casinos is already good  enough for the

alliance because one of its main goals is to find support from  within the

>government system.

Ven. Chao Hwei said there was a good chance the referendum will  pass

because corporations and Penghu County have invested a lot in  advertising the

benefits of opening casinos. She was worried no one would  seriously consider

the social consequences of casinos when all attention is focused  on financial

>gains.

Since the referendum is set on September 26th, the alliance has  been busy

visiting several government departments beforehand to build  support and a rally

is scheduled on the 25th to advise Penghu residents to vote  against building

>casinos.

Editor’s note: The referendum on September 26th failed to  pass. For continuing coverage,

stay tuned to next week’s edition of Taiwan Church News  online.

>********************

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>********************

> 

>Lydia Ma
>English Editor and Secretary
>Taiwan Church News
>+886-6-235-6277 ext. 136