2013年8月4日 星期日

Taiwan president mobbed by mourners at conscript's funeral/ 王健壯:馬政府大腦不如膝蓋

Taiwan president mobbed by mourners at conscript's funeral Bangkok Post
Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou was mobbed by hundreds of angry mourners on Sunday as he attended the funeral service for a young conscript who died after ...

Taiwan president mobbed by mourners at conscript's funeral

Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou was mobbed by hundreds of angry mourners on Sunday as he attended the funeral service for a young conscript who died after allegedly being abused by his officers.
Taiwanese protesters shout slogans and hold placards during an anti-military rally in Taipei, on August 3, 2013. More than 100,000 Taiwanese people have demonstrated in protest over the death of a young conscript who was allegedly abused in the military.
Protestors, including relatives and sympathisers, shouted "We want truth" as Ma, protected by security guards, made his way to the funeral site at the soldier's home in the central city of Taichung.
The service was held a day after more than 100,000 people took to the streets of the capital Taipei to protest over the death of Corporal Hung Chung-chiu and the "sloppy" military investigation of the case.
Hung died of heatstroke on July 4 -- apparently after being forced to exercise excessively as punishment for taking a smartphone onto his base -- just three days before the end of his compulsory year-long military service.
Ma pledged no such tragedy would recur in the military as he offered his condolences to the family.
"As the president and the leader of the country's three armed forces, I hereby guarantee that Hung Chung-chiu will not have died in vain and such a tragedy will not happen again," Ma told Hung's father Hung Chi-tuan.
A total of 18 military officials were indicted last week over Hung's death, including the former commander of his brigade, after military prosecutors completed their investigation.
They were indicted on charges ranging from abuse leading to death and involuntary manslaughter to imposing illegal punishment on a subordinate and offences against personal liberty.
Four detained suspects were separately released by a military court on bail last week, fuelling public anger.
"The four are likely to further collude with each other. Why they were released on a bail?" Hung's father asked Ma.
The president said military prosecutors had appealed against the court's ruling.
Saturday's rally was the second mass protest since the corporal's death.
About 30,000 people demonstrated outside the defence ministry in the capital on July 20, according to the activist group that organised the protests.
Ma has apologised for the incident and defence minister Kao Hua-chu stepped down to take political responsibility for the soldier's death.
Hung's family said he was repeatedly refused water during the punishment despite being close to collapse and that he had previously filed complaints about other abuse meted out by superiors.
Analysts have said his death has dealt a blow to the defence ministry's plans for a professional military.
The ministry wants to phase out its decades-old compulsory 12 months of service by the end of 2015, replacing it with four months of military training for men aged over 20.
The government hopes volunteers will then enlist for a longer period of military service, making for a better trained, more highly skilled military.
In the six months to June the military recruited just 1,847 people -- 31 percent of its target of 5,887. The defence ministry had planned to recruit 17,447 people before the end of February next year.


 *****http://opinion.cw.com.tw/blog/profile/45/article/520

【周一專欄】王健壯:馬政府大腦不如膝蓋

每個政府領導人都知道「要做對的事情」,但他們的最大問題卻往往是:他們並不知道哪件事才是對的事,也不知道怎麼做才能把對的事做對。
也因為如此,每個號稱要改革的政府,改革到最後都會掉進一個困境:「每一次改革,無論多麼重要,總會被愚蠢的頭腦過度實施,致使改革本身又需要改革」;馬政府現在就陷在這樣的困境中左支右絀,做什麼都錯,怎麼做都錯。
舉 洪仲丘案為例。在洪案之前,軍中冤案不知凡幾,但軍檢或軍法官偵審這些冤案的結果,卻經常讓冤案變成懸案、疑案,甚至變成更冤的冤案,類似江國慶案這樣的 「軍審制度殺人事件」,更激發了人神共憤的社會效應。而洪仲丘案正發生於這種社會效應的濃厚氛圍中,社會對軍審發掘真相不具信心,乃是用膝蓋想也知道的 事。
但馬政府的大腦卻顯然連膝蓋也不如。目前的「軍事審判法」,雖然有「事實審歸軍法,法律審屬司法」的限制,但既然桃檢可介入洪案的滅證 調查,何以特偵組不能依桃檢模式也介入這件舉國矚目的大案?即使祇是偵辦滅證,也可能會收到稍安民心或稍平民怨的效果。應為而不為,可見馬政府根本不知什 麼是對的事情。
再舉第三方支付為例。電子商務已是大江東流擋不住的趨勢,第三方支付也是市場通用的交易方式,美國十六年前已如此,中國九年 前亦然。但陳裕璋時期的金管會卻「萬山不許一溪奔」,盡用一些小眉小眼的防弊理由百般刁難阻撓,以至於讓台灣變成了電子商務的落後國家。陳裕璋最後雖在 「攔得溪聲日夜喧」的氛圍中下台,但台灣電子商務距離「堂堂溪水出前村」的目標仍很遙遠。這又是馬政府不知什麼是對的事情的另一例證。
不知道什麼是以及怎麼做對的事情,讓馬政府陷入執政困境;做了不對的事,當然更讓馬政府坐困愁城。
舉十二年國教為例。馬政府在二0一一年一月宣布,要從二0一四年推動十二年國教;但從宣布迄今兩年半內,這項政策就一直處於過街老鼠人人喊打的狀態。
何 以如此?理由其實很簡單。就免學費而言,這對於廣大中產階級家庭,事實上並沒有吸引力。就免試升學而言,現在國中畢業生的升學率已超過百分之九十八,幾乎 人人都可以升學,絕大多數學生與家長在乎的,根本不是唸不到高中、繳不起學費,或是高中離家是否夠近,他們在乎的是能不能讀到好高中,這才是舉國忐忑不安 的關鍵。
但遺憾的是,在「比序入學」這一部份,教育部卻始終提不出能讓人放心的說法,忽而補鍋忽而鋸箭,頭痛醫頭腳痛治腳,但每修改一次, 懂的人就更少一點;兩年籌備下來,終至民怨日深,卻祇有補習班在暗喜。更何況,國家財政如此拮据,每年卻要花幾百億元在免高中職學費上,怎麼說也說不通。
許 多人批評教育部對十二年國教理念不清,其實祇要上過教育部網站的人大概都有同感。教育部在網頁上寫了十二年國教有五大理念:有教無類,因材施教,適性揚 才,多元進路,優質銜接。這些八股文字或則概念重疊,或則文句不通,或則與十二年國教特質根本無關,或則夾雜手段與目的,根本沒有說服力與親和力,大概祇 有增加民怨的反效果。做不對的事,又用不對的方式去做,難怪馬政府會如此顧人怨。
再舉募兵制為例。立法院在二0一一年十二月完成「兵役法」修正,但這卻是一項馬政府未經審慎評估,純粹為配合總統政見所倉促推出的一項政策。
在 理念上,募兵制與徵兵制數十年來一直在「資源效率」與「公民投入」間有不少爭議。美國當初基於效率考量而推動募兵制時,也曾被人質疑這項制度可能會沖淡服 役公民的公民參與精神與榮譽。也有人批評,在募兵制下,當兵依市場機制似乎成了在社會上另無他就者的剩餘選項,其結果恐怕難以期待來自募兵的軍隊能有何戰 力。
更何況,美國以世界警察自居,他們的軍隊經常要到世界各地扮演「秩序維護」的角色,而且自主性也較多。但台灣不同,我們至今仍然面臨一 個不忘「祖國統一」的中國,國軍的角色與美軍大不相同,從任何角度看,都未必適合放棄具有「公民自衛」角色的徵兵制。即使是痛恨當兵的人,大概也很難同意 募兵制是對的事情。
十二年國教面臨「花三、五百億卻無人滿意」的困境,就是因為上自總統下至部長,根本沒有人有一套推動國教延長的完整概 念,也沒空思考整體的圖像。而募兵制今年已證明召募兵員不順,洪仲丘案爆發後,募兵困難更可以想見,將來這項政策很可能又會讓馬政府陷入「花三、五百億卻 募不到兵員」的困境。
十二年國教可能讓教育崩壞,募兵制可能讓國防崩解,這都是國家未來可能面臨的重大危機,但台灣的教育與國防本無大事,現在卻因馬政府把錯的事當成對的事,又用錯的方法去做錯的事,結果當然就是四處惹塵埃。台灣本無事,政策惹塵埃,但咎由自取,怨不得人。
這四個施政實例,其實祇是抽樣,凱道上二十幾萬民眾的心中,恐怕還有更多數也數不清有關馬政府施政的負面實例吧。

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