Ma's Fair Lady By Goh Sui Noi
Publisher:The Straits Times - Publication Date: 30-05-2008

Soon after being appointed Taiwan's Justice Minister last month, Wang Ching-feng went to the bank where she took a queue number as usual.

The bank manager, recognising her, offered to move her up the queue. She rejected the offer, she told The Straits Times, because it would have been unfair to others. She recounted the incident to illustrate how social order could be kept simply by having everyone follow the rules. If everyone did so, Taiwan's prisons would be empty, she said.

The minister wants to turn the Taiwanese approach to the law - qing li fa, or sentiment before reason and the law - on its head. "This will not do," she said. "If you put sentiment first, you undermine the law."

The attitude has led to an acceptance of a certain amount of corruption so long as the government is effective, and a casual attitude towards traffic rules.

Wang, 56, wants to adopt Singapore's approach - the law before reason and sentiment, or fa li qing. In other words, the rule of law rather than the rule of persons, she said.

In a recent interview in the business magazine Global Views Monthly, prominent Taiwanese lawyer Chen Chang-wen said the new government of President Ma Ying-jeou should give priority to implementing the rule of law.

"Our laws are not obeyed, our government puts itself above the law, and those below follow suit," he said.

During the martial law period from 1949 to 1987, Taiwan's civilian court system was sidelined by military tribunals. With the lifting of martial law and subsequent democratisation, legal reforms over the past two decades have strengthened the rule of law. But many believe a lot remains to be done.

Ma said in his inauguration speech: "We must ensure the government is based on the rule of law." He also promised to "protect human rights, uphold law and order, make justice independent and impartial, and breathe new life into civil society".

Much of this work will fall on Wang. Many believe the lawyer-activist was appointed because she was from outside the system. Already, she has stirred controversy in refusing her predecessor Shih Mao-lin's request to return to the Supreme Court Prosecutors' Office.

Shih, 58, was chief prosecutor in the Taipei Public Prosecutors' Office when he was made deputy justice minister in 2004 and then justice minister in 2005.

Wang, in explaining her decision, said: "We must maintain the independence that belongs to prosecutors so they will not be interfered with or affected by other political facts."

Her decision was slammed by some prosecutors as 'heartless' and a 'vicious attack'. But some saw Shih's desire to return as prosecutor as an attempt to increase his pension, as prosecutors have a better retirement scheme than other civil servants.

This episode illustrates the difficulty of playing by the book, let alone changing it. Still, Wang has made a start. But as 'a lone bird and a rookie', as her friends describe her, how far can she go?

Her to-do list is long: To ensure clean government, her ministry is drawing up a code of ethics for civil servants and setting up a clean politics commission. Judicial reforms include the enactment of a law to allow for an evaluation system to filter out unqualified judges and prosecutors. To prevent prosecutors from abusing their power, human rights education will be enhanced in schools and in training institutes for judicial personnel.

Wang is not lacking in perseverance, as her track record as an activist shows. In the mid- 1980s, she took to the streets to protest against child prostitution. The work of activists like her resulted in the 1995 law that banned people under the age of 18 from working as prostitutes. After the devastating earthquake of September 1999, she was involved in reconstruction of quake-hit areas and was still engaged in this task when she was appointed Justice Minister.

"What I have promised to do, I will carry out even if it kills me," she told The Straits Times.

While admitting she did not know how long she would last in the job, she said she intended to give it her best shot. Although it was too soon to know what problems she would encounter, she expected her sincerity to win her the trust and cooperation of her colleagues at the ministry.

She also admitted having to change her style since entering government: from jeans and sneakers to skirts and pumps, from speaking her mind freely to choosing her words carefully.

But if there is one thing she will not compromise on, it is her belief in equality before the law. She certainly has the courage of her conviction.

Only time will tell if she has the skills to change things as much as she would like to.

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I agree with this approach. Emotions and sentiment shouldn't interfere with the rule of law. If it did it allows for discretionary rule. She is correct IMO.

Oh dear. I understand what she's saying about traffic laws, which there is none it's every person for themselves but it all still works somehow, and the tolerated amount of corruption but to go as far as Singapore? For my tastes I think Singapore is a little too strict. Fine for Singapore since I would only go there as a tourist but I have to go to Taiwan quite a bit.

Over the years I've really come to appreciate what Ma did as the mayor of Taipei and I'm very happy he's the new prez but come on! He's still KMT and that's an inaugural speech. They always say those sort of things. We all know how things are still gonna get done. You gotta know someone who knows someone. In low places as well as high places, lol.

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