Today's newspaper was depressing reading. Aside from the apparent rampant vote buying (which the DPP was not exempt from) we are now seeing the police and security forces being blatantly used to constrain freedom of campaigning and movement of DPP personnel and freedom of assembly by independent media workers in areas where there are no restrictions. Add to that the already bad planning of Taichung City Government and Pro-China hawk Mayor Hu for the coming Chun Yunlin visit in December (there will be 'protest areas a la Beijing Olympics) and the misuse of the Parade and Assembly Act to criminalise public peaceful protests anywhere near the Chen talks and we have a recipe that looks increasingly like Martial Law in all but name. This is Martial Law redux though ... nothing official but a series of actions by police that have the same effect without the Government risking inciting outright revolt by making official moves to clamp down on democratic freedoms. Below is one such example of police acting ultra vires, in a manner that suggests their overt politicisation. These are troubled times for Taiwanese democracy and sovereignty indeed. The unofficial sell-off seems to be well underway and the role of the police is apparently to prevent 'provocations' from impeding the stampede of capitulation:
Meanwhile, a reporter with online news outlet Taiwan Independent Media, Clyde Kan (簡世寬), said he was considering filing a lawsuit against two police officers who he said tried to take him to the police station for no apparent reason.
He also said they twisted his arms before Ma was scheduled to visit Jhubei City with Chiu.
Kan told the Taipei Times in a telephone interview that he was playing a hand-held videogame as he awaited the arrival of Hsieh and Peng.
“A police car stopped, two plainclothes officers came out and asked to check my national ID card. I declined and told them they had no right to check my ID because I was just standing there doing nothing,” Kan said. “They responded by grabbing my hands and wanted to put me in the squad car and take me to the police station.”
Kan said he told the officers that he is a journalist and wanted to show them his press pass, but they told him not to move.
One of Kan’s colleagues recorded the argument between Kan and the police on video and posted it on the company’s Web site. The video shows the officers repeatedly trying to cover the camera with their hands while saying they had the right to detain Kan for up to three hours to check his identity and interrogate him.
The officers finally released Kan when former DPP legislator Kao Chien-chih (高建智) showed up and asked what was going on.
“It was too much — the police don’t know to respect a citizen’s basic rights,” Kan said. (This is one of the Wild Strawberry's main complaints)
“They twisted my arms when they tried to force me into the car. I will speak with my attorney to see if I should file a lawsuit against them,” Kan said.
In related news, at the request of the Presidential Office, the National Security Bureau (NSB) yesterday apologized over a controversy in which NSB special agents wore candidate campaign vests while on duty.
The special agents were spotted wearing Chiu campaign vests and baseball caps while working in Ma’s security detail during the campaign events on Tuesday night.
The DPP accused the NSB of abusing its authority.
NSB official Yang Hsiao-hua (楊小華) said he had asked the agents to wear the campaign outfits as a disguise to help them blend into the crowd while providing security.
“We just wanted to do our jobs well, but I admit that we did not realize that it would result in a misunderstanding,” NSB Chief Chi Tai-lai (冀泰來) said.
