Taiwan Curriculum Protests: DPP derides legal action by ministry

Curriculum Protests: DPP derides legal action by ministry

KMT’S RESPONSE:Legislator Lee Guei-min said the protesters had breached the Criminal Code. Hung Hsiu-chu said ‘protest backers’ must leave the students alone

By Loa Iok-sin and Alison Hsiao  /  Staff reporters

Protesters who were detained after entering the Ministry of Education are met by friends and family after being released in Taipei on Friday.

Photo: Chen Chih-chu, Taipei Times

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The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday said legal action by the Ministry of Education against students is a “big joke,” after a group broke into the ministry building late on Thursday night in a protest over proposed adjustments to high-school curriculum guidelines.

“The ministry broke the law with the proposed curriculum guidelines, and now it is bringing legal action against students,” DPP spokesperson Huang Di-ying (黃帝穎) said. “If Minister of Education Wu Se-hwa (吳思華) does not withdraw the action against the students, he will destroy his image and blight his conscience, becoming a dirty politician with a bad name that will follow him for the rest of his life.”

Thirty-three people, including three journalists, were detained by police after they entered the building. The protesters were released late on Friday after posting bail ranging from NT$10,000 to NT$30,000. The journalists were placed under house arrest after each refused to pay NT$10,000 bail.

DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday reiterated DPP demands that the ministry halt its plan to implement the curriculum guidelines by next month, adding that the ministry should withdraw its legal action against the protesters and the journalists.

“The ministry has set a poor example by threatening legal action against students and journalists,” she added.

The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus expressed its support for the ministry’s actions.

“The protesting students stormed into the minister’s office and occupied it,” the caucus said. “The law cannot be distorted by politics, so we firmly stand with the ministry’s decision to bring charges against any who breach the law.”

KMT Legislator Lin Te-fu (林德福) displayed a photograph that has been circulating online, showing a receipt for NT$1,495 worth of umbrellas, suggesting that the DPP had made the purchase.

Lin said the DPP likely masterminded the break-in, accusing the party of instigating students and at the same time releasing a joint statement urging the ministry to withdraw its legal challenge.

Lin said Tsai, as a legal scholar and presidential candidate, “has unscrupulously used the situation for her own political interests and flagrantly showed contempt for the nation’s laws.”

KMT Legislator Lee Guei-min (李貴敏) said that a party with opinions about the curriculum guidelines should propose its ideas in the legislature, not push young people who have little understanding of the law to the front lines, presenting them with the opportunity to destroy the rule of law and democracy.

Lee, who has a background in law, said the protesters’ actions constituted an “intrusion” according to the Criminal Code, so “if the ministry fails to take legal action, it would be tantamount to saying that similar actions are legally permitted.”

However, Lee said freedom of the press should be protected and questions over whether the journalists arrested had breached any laws needed further investigation.

KMT presidential candidate Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) called on “the party behind the protests” to “get its hands off” young people.

“The political party behind” the protesters’ actions should not “hide behind protesting young people,” which is unthinkable in a democratic nation, Hung said.

Tsai said Hung should exercise caution when speaking and refrain from twisting the facts.
“The real cause of the problem is the mishandling — by the government, and especially the ministry — of the curriculum adjustment plan, which triggered hostility and disputes,” Tsai said.

Taiwan Curriculum Protests: Individuals involved in MOE compound incursion to be prosecuted: minister Wu

Curriculum Protests: Individuals involved in MOE compound incursion to be prosecuted: minister Wu

By Abraham Gerber  /  Staff reporter

Minister of Education Wu Se-hwa said yesterday students who allegedly broke into the Ministry of Education (MOE) compound late on Thursday night — and possibly three journalists who followed the students — are to be charged with several offenses.

Photo: Taipei Times

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Students who allegedly broke into the Ministry of Education (MOE) compound late on Thursday night — and possibly three journalists who followed the students — are to be charged with several offenses, Minister of Education Wu Se-hwa (吳思華) said yesterday, calling the students a “front” for external political forces.

Wu said that the ministry had communicated with students on numerous occasions, both official and unofficial, and had shown restraint in not prosecuting previous incidents of trespassing on ministry property.

“Our tolerance has been rewarded with continued irrational behavior, which we feel has been disorderly and seriously breaches the bounds of what is acceptable, creating the worst possible example,” Wu said, adding that he wished to express his “regret” and “condemnation” of the students’ “brashly illegal behavior.”

The ministry said that 33 people had been arrested, including 24 students, three reporters and six other individuals. Eleven minors were among those arrested.

The students used ladders to scale barbed-wire barricades on the perimeter of the ministry compound, with a number of students later barricading themselves inside Wu’s office.

MOE Secretary-General Wang Chun-chuan (王俊傑) said that the students would be prosecuted for two charges according to the Criminal Code: trespassing on the dwelling or structure of another and damaging public property.

Wu condemned what he called the “unethical behavior” of outside political forces behind the student movement.

“At many venues, we found that some political parties and social organizations have interposed themselves in activities relating to the curriculum guidelines,” Wu said. “They hide themselves behind students who are pushed to the front lines.”

Wu also ruled out any temporary suspension of the controversial curriculum guidelines, stating that the administrative procedures for them to go into effect next month have already been completed and he could not reverse them.

He said the ministry maintains that schools are to be allowed to use textbooks based on either the old or new versions of guidelines, with teachers using “supplementary materials” to lead discussion on both sides of the controversial portions.

Regarding communication with students, Wu said that students protesting earlier this week had failed to clearly state how they wished to communicate with ministry officials.

While schedule conflicts prevented him from attending Thursday’s ministry-sponsored forums on the guidelines, the officials who did attend were fully capable of representing the ministry’s position, he said.

Forums were delayed for more than a month after the first event ended with Wu being confronted by students, who attempted to prevent him from leaving.

Wu said he remained willing to meet with student representatives, with the time, place and manner of such a meeting all negotiable.

He confirmed that Wu Ching-shan (吳清山) had tendered his resignation as director of the K-12 Education Administration, which is responsible for implementing the guidelines, but said that he had yet to approve the request.

Taiwan Curriculum Protests: Authorities release incursion reporters

Curriculum Protests: Authorities release incursion reporters

PRESSING CHARGES:Minister of Education Wu Se-hwa said the ministry will withdraw the charges against the three reporters only after determining that they did not participate in breaking into the ministry complex

By Abraham Gerber and Jason Pan  /  Staff reporters

Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper) photojournalist Liao Chen-huei holds up his reporter’s identification card as he steps out of a police vehicle at the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office early yesterday morning.

Photo: CNA

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Three journalists arrested while covering the storming of Ministry of Education building late on Thursday night and early yesterday morning were released without bail by prosecutors after they insisted on pleading not guilty and refused to accept paying NT$10,000 bail earlier yesterday.

The three reporters arrested are Liao Chen-hui (廖振輝) — a Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper) photographer, Sung Hsiao-hai (宋小海) of news Web site Coolloud.org.tw (苦勞網) and Lin Yu-yu (林雨佑), a freelance journalist.

All three were inside the ministry building when the students were subdued and arrested.

“It was the darkest day of my 19 years of working as a journalist,” Liao said after walking out of the Taipei Prosecutors’ Office last night. “If a government can turn a journalist into a criminal by simply saying: ‘We didn’t invite you to cover the news,’ which media organization would dare to monitor the government’s actions?”

Lin posted a video of police officers grappling for his camera and stating that the reporters had illegally entered the building and did not have any authority to engage in news gathering.

Police reinforcements prevented other members of the media from entering the ministry after news of the break-in emerged.

Despite criticism from the public, as well as from journalist and human rights groups, the ministry insisted on pressing charges against the three journalists.

“The Ministry of Education will withdraw the charges against the three reporters arrested late on Thursday only after determining that they did not participate in breaking into the ministry complex,” Minister of Education Wu Se-hwa (吳思華) said yesterday.

“We hope that the journalists were not a part of this incident,” said Wu, who added that they should be accorded full protection if they were purely engaged in news gathering.

He said that there was a possibility that the reporters had “led” the students into the complex, which would mean that they “participated” in the break-in rather than “reporting on it.”

Ministry of Education Secretary-General Wang Chun-chuan (王俊傑) said all three of the reporters admitted to climbing over the barbed-wire barricades around the ministry building, adding that security camera footage would be analyzed to determine their exact roles.

Students late on Thursday clambered over the barricades and broke into the ministry building, temporarily occupying Wu’s office.

Wang said the decision to arrest the reporters was made by the on-site police commanding officer, while prosecutors would determine whether or not to charge them based on the available evidence.

The ministry would “cooperate” with the decisions of the police and the prosecutors’ office, he said.

Zhongzheng First Police Precinct Deputy Police Chief Lee Chuan-che (李權哲) earlier stated that the reporters had been arrested because the ministry had decided to press charges.

Bailiffs transferred 22 of the 33 individuals arrested for storming the ministry building to the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office yesterday afternoon for further questioning.

All of those arrested were first taken to the headquarters of Taipei’s special police division for public security in the Songshan District (松山), where many remained yesterday afternoon.

At a separate setting yesterday, human rights lawyer Tseng Wei-kai (曾威凱) said the decision to arrest the journalists was an abuse of power by a government agency and that it infringed upon the right of the media to report the news.

Tseng said police used threats of legal action against those arrested, while confiscating mobile phones so the journalists could not call their employers.

Several rights groups released statements condemning police officers’ use of excessive force against the young students and questionable means used by members of the judiciary.

Taiwan Association for Human Rights legal specialist Hsu Jen-shuo (許仁碩) said that as the owner of the ministry compound, the ministry itself could choose whether or not to charge the students and the journalists for trespass.

Civic organizations also condemned the police officers for abusing their power and excessive use of force when arresting the students and journalists.