Ma urges all prosecutions stick to lawful procedures

Ma made the remarks when speaking at the 17th Central Consultative Committee meeting of the ruling Kuomintang. Ma said he was shocked to hear one question from a farming grandma when visiting a farm house in southern Taiwan: "Why has former President Chen Shui-bian yet to be sentenced?”

In response to the question, Ma said he stressed to the grandma that “As the President, I cannot interfere in any judicial operations. And all the judiciary units will prosecute any irregularities or scandals without conniving at any crimes or making people suffer grievance.”

Earlier, Ma said, some people voiced dissatisfaction with the government and Ma himself because they felt the government’s hesitance to take actions against Chen’s alleged corruption and money laundering scandals.

Later on, investigators and prosecutors took legal actions against Chen, his family members and close aides, but some other people soon expressed similar resentment on the government and Ma himself, the president continued at the committee meeting.

“This has clearly demonstrated that the government and me haven’t interfered in the prosecution of Chen’s cases,” Ma stressed.

He expressed hopes that all the investigators and prosecutors, regardless of their political preference, should make all-out efforts to probe and prosecute all the irregularities and scandals without making wrong accusations or conniving at any crimes. In addition, investigators and prosecutors should be attentive to the protection of human rights and lawful procedures when carrying out any investigation or prosecution job.

On the same occasion, Ma also noted that his “workable diplomacy” initiative has worked well so far, as the nation has enjoyed stable ties with all the countries having diplomatic relationships with Taiwan since he assumed presidency on May 20.

On another front, Ma said the successful historical meeting in Taipei between Chairman P.K. Chiang of the Straits Exchange Foundation and his Chinese counterpart Chairman of the Association for Relationships Across the Taiwan Strait is a shinning achievement scored by the administrative team headed by Premier Liu Chao-shiuan. “Within just six months after the new government took office, the cross-strait dialogues were smoothly resumed after a 10-year hiatus, with four pacts signed to effectively promote substantive exchanges between both sides. This is quite an achievement.”

The President continued that the ruling Kuomintang has been actively promoting peace and prosperity across the Taiwan Strait in accordance with the ROC Constitution. As a result, Taiwan has jumped to 5th in the September political risk assessment by the BERI due to the growing peaceful cross-strait development lowering Taiwan’s political environment risk. Touching on the economic side, Ma said that “domestic demand stimulus package” raised by the Cabinet is designed to help local county and city governments create more job opportunities, and the 12 love-Taiwan projects he proposed during presidential election campaigns can serve well the to help Taiwan cushion the impact of the global financial tsunami on its economy.

As the government is going to grant all the nationals NT$3,600 shopping vouchers each to stimulate private spending, Ma urged all the nationals not to keep the vouchers, and should, instead, shop at not only hypermarts but also small stores.

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