For almost a month, under suspicious internal military evils, Corporal Hung is highly believed to have died on collective military abuse. Ultra-high media attention surrounded the military, the public, and all corners of this nation. Internal affairs investigations began 2 weeks after the incident, with contradictory statements, wavering attitude, and conflicting evidence, were appalling, ineffective, and disappointing. Even when Hung’s older sister, Hung Tzi-Yung, presented the audio evidence, that Officer Wu Yi-Chu admitted to the accused officers of buying drinks for the hospital in order to expedite the processing of his health check-up report, Chief of Military Internal Affairs Tsao Jing-Shen blurted, “we were caught off-guard and ambushed”. Taiwanese citizens seethed in anger, disappointment, and all forms of negative emotions, as we watched the lukewarm efforts of investigation, clumsy handling of details, and lack of neutrality. This is an utter insult at democracy and the rights of each individual in this developed country!!
Our pleas for military personnel to be tried under civilian court during peace times, had been shamelessly vetoed by the ruling party in the Legislative Yuan. This is not in sync with the guarantee of President Ma’s affirmative statement to Hung’s family, in which he said, and we quote, “I got this.” As Chief commanding officer of the Taiwanese Navy, Army, and Air Force, his open statement, like a faulty check to the bank, has bounced beyond comprehension, sympathy, and any room for compromise. His heart, has hardened, and ears, deaf, to the pleas of his people for justice. Today, we stand on the streets of Kai-Da as we scream our discontent. There is no room for compromise, for flashy political displays, for scapegoats, and certainly not from the second-term President Ma.
No truth, no forgiveness!
So many details, and yet so many questions..speculations…and flaws…:
- What happened to the 80 minute footage that was lost from the solitary confinement surveillance cameras? Medical experts strong lean towards suspicion of forced excessive water intake! Why have they not probed on this point as one of the clues to investigation?
- 16 surveillance cameras simultaneously lost visual during the vital 80 minutes. Yet prior and after the 80 minutes, all were operational and well. Military authorities fabricated one lie after another. First the “lightning cut the power”. Then the “audio only” talks. Now we have the “input-output wires are old and in need of repair” talks. One after another, debunking ensued, and with each retreat, the military had a new theory or rebuttal in play.
- Was the death of Cpl Hung done by one single person? Or was it collective, like hounds chasing down a prey in the wild? Were they operating from the command of someone higher ranking behind the scenes? Reducing collateral damage, bringing in lower ranking officials as scapegoats, and ending the problem? That we can not allow.
- On August 1st, 2013, the four accused officers were let off on bail, with Officer Chen Yi-Shun with the highest bail of 150,000 NTD. All four people are highly suspected to have synchronized their statements, but the military had a comeback statement, stating they are now deployed to different and separate military units. Therefore, according to them, there is no possibility of their scheming to make false statements. It is ridiculous and lack of understanding to the justice.
Justice must be served.
On August 1st, 2013, President Ma issued an official statement, informing the general public that he is unable to breach conventional rules in fear of disrupting the harmony of justice system. “My question to the people is this: in a country governed strictly by law, how can you ask the president to not abide and bind by the realm of the law?” This statement, while seemingly reasonable and logical, is not in conformity with the current national situation and demands of reality. League of Citizen11985 was formed under such environment and conditions.
Since the current justice infrastructure of Taiwan lacks public credibility, the social movement is warranted and naturally spawned, in a concerted effort to push and pull for political dynamics to make the proper political changes in law reforms. This league strongly upholds the notion, that President Ma’s statement highlights the major flaws in current judicial infrastructure and procedures that are in dire need of changes, reconstruction, and reform. Quite puzzling indeed, to see that the highest person in command of the nation’s military, which by democratic default, is the President, to say he is unable to work with the legislative Yuan (equivalent to Congress or Parliament of other countries) to make solid and necessary changes. Instead, he regressed to his all-too-familiar ploy: make an oral promise and leave it at that. Such response saddens the nation as the people thirst and crave for the truth. Today, we the people, hand down the gauntlet – an ultimatum, to the nation’s government – learn, like other developed countries of the world, to close down internal affairs investigation branch within the military unit, and hand those reins to the judicial branch of the government.
If the people feel strained in the exercise of this show of collective voice, then that means the government and military forces can sleep easily and move on with their lives, for they have, as an old song once said, “they got the whole~world, in his hands”. If today’s display of restrained anger, rational pleas for reform, and mass media attention, can not soften the hearts of those who rule our nation, then we are afraid, nothing can stop this gigantic monster that has crawled out of this chaos.
We sincerely thank all those people who have donated their energy, finances, and time to the cause. Justice sticker charity drive part 2 has officially ended and sold out. Please refrain from wiring any money transfers to our account. Pre-ordered people can head to the pre-ordered booth for your products with a transcript of your wire transfer. Thank you. And we hope to see you all on August 3rd, 2013, to revive and stimulate the dormant justice in face of military and central government branch’s jaded and passive responses.
