Who is Obstructing Judicial Reform?

Recently, upon seeing cross-party legislators fiercely attack the Judicial Yuan for its inability to resolve the backlog of judges' cases, and even hearing arguments to completely slash this year's budget for judges' overseas inspections, an advertising slogan immediately came to mind: "Before shaving others, shave your own beard first!"

We have solid evidence to make such a claim. Crucial bills vital to the success of overall judicial reform and capable of significantly enhancing our nation's judicial efficiency and judgment quality—such as the Judicial Yuan Organization Act and the Court Organization Act—have remained completely stalled since being submitted to the Judiciary and Organic Laws and Statutes Committee of the Legislative Yuan this session. With only one final opportunity left to review bills in this session's committee, the Kuomintang (KMT) convenor holding the authority to place these related judicial reform bills on the agenda still refuses to do so. This makes us deeply disappointed by the Legislative Yuan's snail-paced review of legislation and profoundly indignant that it has indirectly become an accomplice to judicial counter-reform and regression!

Furthermore, the National Judicial Reform Conference held in 1999 was not only a concrete achievement of the KMT's administration, but at the time, representatives from the Executive Yuan and Legislative Yuan of that party, and even then-Vice President Lien Chan (now Chairman Lien Chan), who attended the closing ceremony and delivered remarks in person, unanimously affirmed that the conclusions of the National Judicial Reform Conference should move toward constructing a pyramid-shaped litigation system and court structure. Against this historical backdrop, we find it even harder to understand why KMT legislators are now turning around and refusing to support draft bills like the Judicial Yuan Organization Act, which were drafted based on the conclusions of the National Judicial Reform Conference? Are differing voices within the party really more powerful than the people's ardent aspirations for judicial reform? Or is maintaining intra-party harmony more important than being attuned to public opinion and following the tide of reform?

We recall that when the Judicial Reform Foundation published the "Two-Year Review Report on the National Judicial Reform Conference" in 2001, it directly pointed out that "the revision of laws is a major undertaking in judicial reform, but the Legislative Yuan has become a legislative obstacle, and we do not know how many generations and seasons we must wait for the revision of several major codes." Regrettably, this situation has seen no improvement to this day. Adapting the "trendy" phrasing recently used by the Minister of Justice and high-ranking officials of the Judicial Yuan, we cannot help but sigh: "What era is this, how can there still be such legislators?" and "If the Legislative Yuan delays reviewing bills indefinitely, why should our nation even have a legislature?"

※ Published in: China Times / Forum Square