CHINA TIMES:

Better not to rule than ruling in a speedy but careless way

The Judicial Yuan is pushing for a speedy criminal trial act, which reportedly aims at allowing defendants access to a fair and speedy trial, but the draft is obviously riddled with questionable clauses.

Otherwise, the act touted as upholding judicial human rights would not have faced obstructions from judicial human rights groups during the legislative process.

Defendants in a criminal case have the right to get a speedy trial, but this should not compromise their right to a fair trial, which is built on the insistence of presumed innocence.

In a nutshell, if we use a speedy trial to replace an extended trial, then it is better not to rule than ruling in a speedy but careless way.

Encouraging courts to hand down lighter sentences to solve long-standing cases seems to be the preference of the authors of the draft.

But to go against the principle of presumed innocence will by no means advance the judicial reforms of a country that is pursuing progress in human rights.

UNITED DAILY NEWS:

Food safety is the public's most humble demand

The public is in a panic over a spate of contaminated foods recently -- from dioxin-contaminated ducks in Daliao, Kaohsiung County, and rice in Houbi, Tainan County, found to contain chromium, to the mass deaths of eels in scenic Chengching Lake in Kaohsiung.

The government reacted by culling the ducks, destroying the rice, demanding the shutdown of a metal company that dumped slag and fly ash near the duck farm, and expanding the examination of illegal dumping sites.

We believe long-term negligence has resulted in the leaking or illegal dumping of these toxic materials, which can penetrate the food chain after coming in contact with soil.

The basic goal for the government is to do everything possible to contain the pollutants from entering soil or waters.

But it is difficult to put into practice. The nation started its hectic economic development more than four decades ago, and its environmental consciousness has lagged far behind.

The government did not list soil contamination prevention as a top priority until as late as 1983, and subsequent surveys have found that farmland around the island is widely polluted with heavy metals.

Some sites have been listed as pollution control areas and given funding to rehabilitate the land, but the results have been limited.

Despite heavy fines in recent years, the government has also found that illegal dumping and careless burying of toxic waste is even more rampant than in the past.

After news emerged of the dioxin-tainted ducks, the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) listed at least 175 illegal dumping sites in Taiwan, with many of them posing immediate danger.

The EPA should be blamed, but we think local governments should also be faulted for gross negligence. Food safety requires the vigilance of governments at all levels and should not depend on environmental volunteers to blow the whistle on illegal practices.

Liberty Times:

Taiwan people must rise to let vote-buying party collapse Taiwan is due to hold three-in-one elections for city and county heads, city and county councilors and township chiefs on Dec. 5.

The alarming phenomenon is that vote-buying is on the rise.

According to Ministry of Justice statistics, 1,000 bribery cases have entered the litigation process as of last week.

We have seen four legislators of the ruling Kuomintang have their elections invalidated recently because of vote-buying practices. The Central Standing Committee of the ruling Kuomintang had an unprecedented by-election after the elected members resigned en masse amid a vote-buying scandal.

As the year-end elections will have the economic efficiency of buy three votes in one, the specter of entrenched vote-buying again haunts Taiwan despite strenuous efforts by the election authorities to root out the corrupt practice.

Taiwan voters must be on guard. If they accept the money, they are like Faust trading his soul to the devil. Only if they let the vote-buying party collapse, can they ensure that corrupt officials will be dumped into the trashbin of history.

APPLE DAILY:

Businesswoman buying into post reveals a lot of BS

Diana Chen, former chairwoman of Taipei 101, admitted to prosecutors that she delivered NT$10 million to former first lady Wu Shu-jen to arranging her to serve as the chairwoman of the state-controlled Grand Cathay Securities Corp. in 2004.

But she reversed her testimony in court and was sentenced to a year and a half in jail for perjury in September. She then appealed to the high court, where she appeared yesterday.

Taiwan's law punishes those who accept bribes but spare those who dispense the money. If Chen had admitted her bribery, she would not have been punished. She was sentenced because she reversed her testimony.

Did Chen deliver the large sum of money with no purpose? The former first family tried to circumvent corruption charges by arguing that it was a political donation and that the money was turned over to the Democratic Progressive Party at a later date.

But did Wu give Chen a receipt or is there evidence to show that it was political donation? It would be more reasonable to presume that Chen's earlier statement that she delivered the money in exchange for the post was true.

We have seen numerous examples in history of selling official posts before the collapse of a country.

Fortunately, Taiwan has regular democratic elections so that such "bullshit" can come to light.

(By Lilian Wu)