Ma-Wang Tussle Round Up

Apple Daily has had some wonderful front page illustrations during this Ma-Wang disaster.

I need to go away for a vacation (post below) more often if President Ma is going to melt down like this. What fun!  Some observations, in no particular order:

Let's remember -- this affray is entirely the result of Ma's decisions. Nothing called for him to do anything but make his usual noises about resolving things by the law, the KMT is clean, he is against corruption, etc. He didn't have to go after Wang and spark a political and possibly even constitutional. This crisis is entirely of Ma's making.

The Washington Post reports on Taiwan from...Beijing. An island full of talented and perspicacious writers and observers, and their go-to guy is 3000 kms away. Why not just solicit stories from Moonbase Alpha? Think of the broad scope! Longtime Taiwan specialist John Tkacik pointed out the article's subtle pro-PRC spin in a comment below it:

I detect several pro-China spins in this report, including the subtle assumption that Taiwan Speaker Wang Jin-pyng, DPP Legislative Whip Ker and Justice Minister Tseng really are guilty of something. These are political figures that Beijing doesn't trust and would gleefully discredit. And when a Taiwan official tells a WPost reporter calling from Beijing "it's unsafe to talk, we're being monitored," he is probably referring to the Chinese security services' routine monitoring of Foreign Correspondents' telephone calls as much as anything else.

The article even terms the feeling of being watched "paranoia" though the piece is about -- what kind of case? Yes, a case in which the government wiretaps were used to discredit the President's perceived political enemies.

Poll plummet: UDN had Ma at 11% approval. As Ma fell to 9% in at least one poll, people were gleefully digging up Ma's words calling for Chen Shui-bian's resignation when Chen hit 18%, or twice as high as where Ma is now. Ma said back in 2006:

「民調掉到18%以下，人民可以把權力拿回來…」

and the bolded comment below was widely repeated:

當民意已經不支持你, 你的政治責任沒有辦法再承擔的時候, 你就應該知道自己下台, 不要等人來罷免你。一個人要有羞恥, 人家才會尊重

When the opinion of the people no longer supports you, and when you can no longer shoulder your political responsibilities, you should know that you need to step down. Don't wait until someone impeaches you. A person has to have a sense of shame for the people to respect him. - Ma Ying-jeou, June of 2006

Letters from Taiwan, always good, juxtaposed a poll that said the DPP's Tsai is now more trusted to carry out cross strait policies than Ma, and that Ma was at 9.2%

The news report for more than 30 scholars and law professors signing a document saying Ma has crossed a constitutional red line is here. I've placed the text under the READ MORE divider below. Thanks to Ketty Chen for sending it around Facebook. The Constitutionality of Ma's acts is starting to loom; what looked like Ma simply doing something fantastically stupid is slowly blowing up into a constitutional crisis. Civic groups pointed out that by listening to the prosecutor and removing Wang from his position in the legislature, Ma may have committed a constitutional violation.

The Court's reversal of the order expelling Wang from the KMT certainly makes it seem so. That was huge.... (Taipei Times):

The Taipei District Court yesterday ruled in favor of Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng’s (王金平) provisional injunction seeking to retain his Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) membership and position as head of the legislature.

The court ruled that Wang would be able to retain his membership and rights as a KMT member after submitting a guarantee of about NT$9.38 million (US$314,300), Taipei District Court spokesperson Lai Chien-yi (賴劍毅) told reporters.

The KMT plans to appeal, so stay tuned. FocusTW explains the Court's logic.

The panel of three judges granted Wang's request on the basis of avoiding "irreparable damages" that the plaintiff would suffer due to a loss of eligibility to serve in the Legislature while waiting for a court to rule on his other lawsuit.

Motives? Lots of people are pointing to simple hate. Lee Yuan-tseh, Taiwan's nobel prize-winning physicist, criticized Ma for constantly having his features distorted by hate. Nathan Batto over at the awesome Frozen Garlic has a marvelously informative blog post on the whole affair, well worth reading. He is leery of identifying a motive. All politics may be local in some places, but in East Asian Confucian societies, all politics is personal. I'm with the vendetta believers, though I am sure the politics of the moment, and of the future (particularly Ma's prized cross-strait peace plan) may have played a role. I don't think Ma is playing 11-dimensional chess or is all that impatient with what's going on in the legislature; I think he seized a chance to revenge himself on someone he really just totally hated. Like a sort of inept, out of control Michael Corleone, he's taking revenge on everyone who offended him by opposing him: the jailing of Chen Shui-bian, the investigation of Lee Teng-hui for embezzling (handled by the same prosecutor who went after Wang in this case), the investigation of Su Tseng-chang for his handling of government papers, the attack on Wang, the prosecutions of DPP politicians all over the island, etc etc etc.

The China Times says Ma sacrifices Taiwan's Future by Slaying Wang. The China Times also pointed out that Lin Yi-shih, the Ma associate who was recently given six years for corruption, is still a KMT party member.

Jonathon Manthorpe, longtime observer of things here, has a write-up of events here.

Lighter moment: some delegation went to Washington to complain to people there about Taiwan's Watergate -- illegal wiretapping! Bwahahaha. Don't they read the news? Complaining to Washington about someone engaged in illegal wiretapping is like complaining to the Mafia about what horrors illegal prostitution and gambling are.
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Daily Links:

• Jamestown Brief piece assesses the DPP's China policy in light of the 2014 elections
• Taiwan military delays volunteer service by two more years.
• NYTimes: Taiwan seeks to revive its banana industry
• Rex How analyzes the reasons Ma wanted a debate with the DPP over the services pact. One tactic the KMT uses is to reduce all conflicts over X to a partisan conflict between the pro-China and pro-Taiwan forces. 
• Taiwan looks to poach Malaysian students to offset China brain drain .

馬總統已經跨越憲政民主的紅線

一群公法學者對於總統介入國會自律事件的共同意見

立法委員應該遵守〈立法委員行為法〉之規定，不得對進行中的司法案件進行遊說。如有涉嫌違反此項國會倫理規範之情事，立法院應當啟動紀律機制進行調查及懲處，社會輿論亦得對涉案人士提出政治道德上的呼籲乃至譴責。惟近日馬英九總統所為，是否透過「捍衛司法、嚴懲關說」之名義，對立法院長王金平展開密集的「政治鬥爭」，社會已多有議論。關於檢察總長黃世銘及其所領導之特偵組就王金平所涉關說疑案所為各種處置的適法性，以及馬總統在此過程中有無違法濫用檢調系統的質疑，我們認為尚有詳細深究的必要。但是，在還沒有循適正之司法、監察或國會調查程序取得更為充分、確切的事證資料以前，我們暫時無法評論。然而，關於馬總統以其身兼國民黨黨主席之權勢，強力運作國民黨對王金平做出撤銷黨籍之嚴厲黨紀處分、試圖據以剝奪王金平之立法委員資格，進而改變立法院院長人選的作法，既有的公開事證資訊已足供我們做出共同確信的憲政法理判斷：馬總統此舉已經公然地逾越了權力分立體制應有的分際，危害了自由民主的憲政秩序。基於以下理由，我們聯合提出這項嚴正的憲政批判﹕

一、總統的憲政身分同一性

首先，總統是一個憲法機關，其權力之行使必須受到憲法規範的約束，當然也必須符合包括民主原則及權力分立原則在內的憲法整體基本原則。在民主社會中，總統個人可以兼具若干的其他政治身分，例如政黨的主席或者實質政治領袖。但是只要他還在任，他作為總統這個憲法機關擔當人的角色與身分就不會改變。在總統任期內，沒有前一秒鐘還是總統，後一秒就不是總統而只是單純政黨主席這種事。總統個人以其非總統身分所為之任何政治行為，均必須與總統的憲法機關角色及其憲法職權相容。換言之，總統以其他政治身分所為的政治行為，同樣必須受到憲法的約束，當然也包括民主原則及權力分立原則。總統在憲政上不可以做的事情，不會因為總統個人換了一個身分（例如政黨主席），就變成是總統可以做的事情。若非如此，憲政秩序上對於總統權力所設的規範，將被總統個人以機巧的身分轉換而輕易規避。

二、國會自律原則與自律事項

我國大法官已經數度闡明，國會自律是構成權力分立秩序的憲法基礎原則之一。國會自律也根植於憲法的民主原則，為擔保代議民主政治之實踐與尊嚴所必要。基於權力分立原則以及民主原則，國會倫理的形成與維持，特別是對於國會議員單純違反國會倫理規範之責任的追究與處罰，當然屬於國會自律事項，其他權力部門不得越殂代庖。特偵組既已表明王金平所涉關說疑案並無涉及刑事不法，而屬行政不法問題，則王金平是否因本案而不適任立法委員與國會議長，屬國會自律範疇，殆無疑義。不分區立法委員與區域選舉產生的立法委員都是代表全國人民行使立法權的代議士。他們受有相同的國會倫理規範﹔對其所為之紀律調查與處罰，也應當適用相同的國會自律原則。

縱使政黨政治已經在相當程度上改變了傳統的憲法權力分立秩序，國會自律仍然是憲政民主國家無可退讓的基本原則。國會自律原則是否被遵守與維繫，是區辨一個國家是憲政民主國家抑或「黨國不分」的政黨集權國家的重要判準。依司法院第三三一號解釋及公職人員選舉罷免法第七十三條之規定，不分區立委在喪失黨籍之日起失去立委資格。此等制度安排是否合致於憲政民主的基本要求，實有重行檢討之空間，但是不論如何，對此等規範所為解釋與具體適用，不能無視於國會自律原則此項憲法規範要求。

三、總統不可以越權干涉國會自律事項

總統不可以介入國會自律事項、侵犯立法權的核心領域。總統不可以做的事情，總統就算身兼政黨主席，還是不可以做。即便不細究現行法下政黨對於不分區立法委員所為撤銷黨籍之黨紀處分本身是否即有架空國會自律原則之虞，為了維持總統與國會的權力分際，擔任總統的個人就是不可以參與所屬政黨議處同黨不分區立委的黨紀程序，而必須有所迴避。換句話說，在總統與政黨主席的角色可能發生衝突的時候，憲法就要求身為總統的個人必須節制自己在憲法外所擁有的政治權力，不可以使總統這個憲法機關發生牴觸憲法的疑慮。憲法對於權力分立的要求，其價值排序遠高於政黨的黨紀維護。然而，馬英九總統非但沒有迴避立法院院長的黨紀案件，還數度召開記者會指摘王金平院長已不適任，必須去職，進而出席國民黨考紀會，要求撤銷王金平的黨籍。我們認為，王金平院長和柯建銘立委的行為是否構成對於進行中的司法案件進行請託、遊說，是否已經違反立法委員的行為倫理，應該接受立法院紀律委員會最嚴格的檢驗。但是馬英九總統的行為已經違背了憲法課予總統的忠誠義務，不當干預國會自律事項，以致跨越了民主國家的憲政權力分際。基於維護憲政民主法治的信念，我們提出學理意見如上，籲請公民社會成員共同正視台灣當前所遭遇的憲政挑戰，並要求國家各權力機關儘速依循合法合憲的方式，匡正脫序的憲政秩序。

共同連署人：
王毓正（成功大學法律學系副教授）
王韻茹（中正大學法律學系助理教授）
王鵬翔（中研院法律學研究所助研究員）
王必芳（中研院法律學研究所助研究員）
辛年豐（逢甲大學土地管理學系助理教授）
官曉薇（臺北大學法律學系助理教授）
邱文聰（中央研究院法律學研究所副研究員）
林佳和（政治大學法律學系副教授）
林佳範（臺灣師範大學公民教育與活動領導系副教授）
林明昕（臺灣大學法律學院副教授）
林春元（中原大學財經法律學系助理教授）
林淑雅（靜宜大學法律學系助理教授）
周佳宥（中國文化大學法律學系助理教授）
胡博硯（東吳大學法律學系助理教授）
高仁川（臺北大學法律學系助理教授）
孫迺翊（政治大學法律學系副教授）
翁燕菁（政治大學政治學系助理教授）
張嘉尹（世新大學法律學系教授）
陳怡凱（成功大學法律學系助理教授）
陳仲嶙（清華大學科技法律研究所副教授）
陳耀祥（臺北大學公共行政暨政策學系助理教授）
黃丞儀（中央研究院法律學研究所助研究員）
黃忠正（清華大學科技法律研究所副教授）
黃舒芃（中央研究院法律學研究所副研究員）
黃源浩（輔仁大學財經法律系副教授）
廖福特（中央研究院法律學研究所副研究員）
劉靜怡（臺灣大學國家發展研究所教授）
鍾芳樺（輔仁大學法律學系助理教授）
顏厥安（臺灣大學法律學系教授）
羅承宗（崇右技術學院財經法律系助理教授）
蘇彥圖（中央研究院法律學研究所助研究員）
蘇慧婕（中央研究院法律學研究所博士後）

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