Concerning Human Rights Violations at National Cheng Kung University in Tainan

From:
8/6/2003 5:25 PM
Subject: ATTENTION: Ms. Wu: Concerning Human Rights Violations at National
Cheng Kung University in Tainan]To: tahr@seed.net.tw
BCC: vertigo

Taiwan Association for Human Rights

6 August 2003

Dear Ms. Wu,

We just spoke over the phone concerning human rights violations at
National Cheng Kung University. To sum up the issues of this case,
which began in March 1999, I am sending you letters I sent to the Prime
Minister of Taiwan and other letters to officials at National Cheng Kung
University, including the president of the university, Professor Kao
Chiang, and the Dean of Student Affairs, Professor Ko Huei-chen
regarding outstanding issues in this case.
In addition I shall forward scans of letters that Scholars at Risk,
a human rights group based in Chicago, sent to the president of NCKU,
Kao Chiang, to no avail.
Try to understand the serious issues surrounding this case. Apart
from the reputation of a professor and issues of human rights, a case
like this reflects the arrogant attitude of so many officials at
National Cheng Kung University who seem to think they are above the law
and will never be held accountable to the law, or why the continued
defiance? There seems to be an arrogant confidence among these
officials that they will never be punished for misbehavior, whether this
is called negligence, malicious misconduct, or incompetence. Yet a
democracy cannot survive without accountability. Indeed, laws, the best
laws, are useless unless officials are held accountable for enforcing
them. This, by the way, means enforcing or executing laws and rulings,
not "interpreting" them any way an official finds convenient, which is
how the university lawyer responded to the Ministry ruling. As I have
pointed out frequently enough to the university and other agencies, in a
democarcy, only the judiciary has the constitutional right to interpret
laws, and even that right is bound, ultimately, by constitutional
protections.
There are a number of problems of administration at our
university. One, quite simply, is the problem of incompetent officials,
many of whom (as I've been told by them) don't know or care about the
laws. The second problem is malicious misconduct. The third is the
well-known policy of placing relationships over the law. The fourth is
misunderstanding laws in a democracy. Officials here seem to think laws
are like selections in a soda machine, where you pick one that best
covers the needs of the occasion: "This law will help me reward that
person and that law will help me punish that other person."
Consider Kao Chiang's written reply to the human rights
organization, Scholars at Risk when they questioned abuses at our
university (see the attached scan):
"Dear Robert, Thank you for your concern regarding this matter.
Please do not worry. We will do everything according to our laws,
regulations, etc."
This was at the same time that the university was defying the
Ministry of Education for more than two years! Scholars at Risk was not
impressed by this reply and sent back an even more strongly worded
letter, which, to my knowledge, Kao Chiang ignored. Yet I'm certain Kao
Chiang has criticized Mainland China for human rights violations, when
it's convenient.
I cannot impress upon you the time my colleagues and I have spent
on this case, the countless documents accumulated, the letters and email
and faxes sent all over Taiwan and outside of Taiwan and this case
remains unresolved and officials at our university are seemingly beyond
penalty or censure. How is this possible in a lawful society?

Sincerely,

Professor Richard de Canio
Department of Foreign Languages and Literature
National Cheng Kung University
Tainan, Taiwan
(06) 237 8626