This image from the Taipei Times. Their caption:
A woman, identified by Taipei Times photojournalist Lu Chun-wei as a plainclothes police officer, covers the mouth of Northern Taiwan Society director Lin Kuan-miao, center, during a visit by Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait Chairman Chen Yunlin to the National Palace Museum on Monday.UPDATE: A police officer friend of mine has advised me that Lin Kuan-miao (林冠妙) is entirely within her rights to sue the police officer above because she does not appear to be clearly displaying her identity badge as a police officer. It thus constitutes breach of protocol and law. Furthermore, he told me that it is illegal for a police officer to muzzle a member of the public in such a manner but that even if it does go to court, the senior officer that ordered her to do so will be exonerated by simply claiming that the woman officer above acted alone (The Rogue Officer Get Out Of Jail Card). Finally, only a select number of very senior politicians are allowed by protocol to enjoy police protection that impedes public right of way - Chen Yunlin is not such a person so again the utter overkill on clearing all areas for Chen Yunlin to freely move whilst hampering the public's freedom of movement is against the law.
This picture tells a thousand words and puts paid to the lie that the Ma Government is concerned with protecting Taiwanese freedoms of speech as are supposed to be enshrined in the ROC Constitution:
Chapter 2: Rights and Duties of The People
Article 8. Personal freedoms shall be guaranteed to the people. Except in case of flagrante delicto as provided by law, no person shall be arrested or detained otherwise than by a judicial or a police organ in accordance with the procedure prescribed by law.
Article 11. The people shall have freedom of speech, teaching, writing and publication.
Article 14. The people shall have freedom of assembly and association.
Article 22. All other freedoms and rights of the people that are not detrimental to social order * or public welfare shall be guaranteed under the Constitution.
Article 23. All the freedoms and rights enumerated in the preceding Article shall not be restricted by law except by such as may be necessary to prevent infringement upon the freedoms of other persons, to avert an imminent crisis, to maintain social order or to advance public welfare *.
Article 24. Any public functionary who, in violation of law, infringes upon the freedom or right of any person shall, in addition to be subject to disciplinary measures in accordance with the law, be held responsible under criminal and civil laws. The injured person may, in accordance with law, claim compensation from the State for damage sustained.
* These caveats have been used and will be used again to excuse actions of officials and public servants that infringe the people's rights. Want to hold a protest against a visiting Chinese official? Nope, sorry. Your banners and slogans are likely to cause a crisis or negatively impact social order. In fact, just one banner in the wrong place could so severely threaten China-ROC relations that a war might break out so take your protest where it doesn't matter and will have zero impact.
Here is the report about the picture above:
Northern Taiwan Society director Lin Kuan-miao (林冠妙) said plainclothes police manhandled her during a scuffle outside the museum, adding that the organisation’s secretary-general, Lee Chuan-hsin (李川信), heard one admit to being a former gangster.
A large number of police officers wore civilian clothes to maintain a low profile, but several allegedly got involved in scuffles with protesters.
Lin said after entering the museum at about 4pm, she soon found herself surrounded by five or six plainclothes police. When Chen and his entourage emerged from the museum, Lin shouted at the Chinese envoy to go back to China. At that point, she said, one tall, burly police officer instructed others to silence her.
A policewoman covered Lin’s mouth to prevent her from continuing her protest, she said.
Lin said this same burly policeman used his weight to shove her, before calling on his colleagues to grab her. The group then manhandled her, dragging her 20m to 30m in the direction of the main gates, she said. They only released her when a volunteer working for the society, who recognised one of the police officers, approached them.
Lin said she had not been holding any banner or poster when the police accosted her, adding that their behaviour during the incident, including the physical force used and the attempt to silence her, amounted to restricting a member of the public’s right to express their opinion.Here are some questions for the Police and Government:
1. Why is the Government increasingly using plainclothes police officers? Does this not infringe upon the people's right to be able to know the identity and occupation / rank of the person detaining / silencing them? What if I am expressing my freedom of speech and someone tries to muzzle me and I push him / her away because I don't know he/she is a police officer. Will I be prosecuted for assault on an officer?
2. As asked in the TT today, why are hecklers allowed to question the President to his face but are silenced in front of foreign visiting dignitaries from China?
3. Why is it acceptable that a Taiwanese Minister of the Semi-official Government body be addressed by her first name or as 'you' by Chinese visiting dignitaries? And ... feel sorry but that's ok because Chen has his own considerations? Would President Ma accept the Japanese PM addressing him as 'you'?
Chen referred to Lai as “you” during their meeting on Tuesday, Lai said yesterday, but she added it was clear that she had met Chen in her capacity as the head of the council.
“I called him Chairman Chen, but the ARATS is not an official government agency,” she said. “He sometimes addressed me as ‘you’ or ‘Shin-yuan’ or both ... I personally feel very sorry that he could not call me by my official title, but he must have his own considerations.”4. Why hasn't an English version of ECFA been submitted to the WTO and why did Taiwan agree that dispute arbitration on trade not be sent to international bodies but 'handled internally'?
5. Why is it ok to enter into negotiations and sign agreements with a Government that does not recognise our nation, has the annexation of our nation enshrined into its law, is maintaining a real military threat against our nation and whose officials cannot greet our officials using their formal titles or accept being taken to places where our official national flag is flown? Do any other nations on Earth enter into negotiations and agreements with nations that both don't recognise it and seek to annex it?
The mind boggles. Most transparent is not the talks or negotiations or the text of agreements made but the way this KMT government is constantly trying to pull a huge Jedi Mind Trick on the entire Taiwanese people about the identity of the nation and it's continued sovereignty: "You don't feel threatened by China. You are Chinese. You live in China. The public all want this. You didn't see us forging towards unification. You believe us when we say we will protect your sovereignty. Your sovereignty is Chinese not Taiwanese. We never cheat at elections and we are not the party of gangsters and violence. Chinese fishing boats are also our fishing boats. Your freedoms are not infringed. The police always act in accordance with the law. It is impossible for us to have made a mistake. Move along now. Nothing to see here."
... and finally, hows this for toadying and affecting an utterly false consciousness for political expediency:
"While denying having given Chen special treatment, Hau described him as a “national leader” who received the same VIP treatment as other foreign guests. The city government later issued a text message correcting Hau’s remarks, saying that “the mayor said Chairman Chen received the same treatment as other guests.”Ooops .. Hau messed up and called Chen a 'foreign' guest. Can't have that so lets all pretend he didn't say it. After all he is Chinese and to the KMT Taiwan is China so people from China are not foreigners. But they are also not citizens of the ROC. Go to the local NIA and see the separate and special counter for 'compatriots' from PRC, Hong Kong and Macau and you see this false consciousness in action - the maintenance of the illusion of Taiwan as the state of China at the expense of Taiwanese who in practice exercise actual independence from the real China but have yet to formalise that independence outside of the colonial and occupationist ROC polity on Taiwan.
