How to Check the Arrogance of Power? A Solemn Statement on Legislators' Abusive and Unauthorized Intrusion into a Private Sphere

Regarding the recent incident where four legislators—Fei Hung-tai, Lo Ming-tsai, Chen Chieh, and Lo Shu-lei—forcibly broke into the campaign headquarters of presidential candidate Mr. Hsieh Chang-ting, we believe this was no mere out-of-control, self-indulgent political show by individual committee members. Rather, it stems from deep structural factors involving the dysfunction of checks and balances, specifically reflecting the unprecedented crisis currently facing Taiwan's democratic society. Given the severe damage this incident has caused to Taiwan's democracy and rule of law, it must be treated with the utmost seriousness. Therefore, we issue this statement as follows:

1. The illegal and provocative actions of the four legislators, resembling a gang-style intimidation raid, not only completely exceeded the scope of legislative authority stipulated in the Act Governing the Enforcement of Legislative Functions, but can by no means be glossed over merely as being "in the wrong place at the wrong time." The level of issues involved in this incident fundamentally erodes the core constitutional value of the separation of powers and seriously damages Taiwan's hard-won democratic achievements. Under the guise of "parliamentary oversight," the four legislators nakedly flaunted their ignorance and arrogance in abusing power, leaving a disgraceful and infuriating negative precedent in the history of Taiwan's democracy and rule of law.
2. What is deeply distressing is that the words and actions demonstrated by the four legislators afterward fully expose that their superficial apologies and regrets were merely expedient measures motivated by electoral self-interest. Not only was there no sincere reflection whatsoever, but they even brazenly claimed the legitimacy of their actions and selfishly and unjustifiably dragged in provincial origin as an excuse. We believe that the damage caused by the four legislators to Taiwan's democracy and rule of law can no way be remedied by inconsequential damage-control measures such as resigning from committee convener positions or caucus whips, or having their political party suspend their party rights.
3. What is even more alarming is that this incident fully exposes the unprecedented crisis facing Taiwan's democratic society under the current status quo where a single party holds more than three-quarters of the seats in the legislature. The blood-soaked history of humanity's pursuit of democracy has long clearly taught us that the checking of power must never rely on the internal self-restraint of those who wield power; rather, it must depend on external mechanisms of checks and oversight. The most severe test currently facing Taiwan's civil society is this: under the cruel reality where institutional checks and balances are severely dysfunctional and media oversight leaves much to be desired, how can the people of Taiwan prevent ignorant power arrogance from repeatedly inflicting even more severe damage on Taiwan's hard-accumulated democratic achievements? We believe that under this grave situation, the top priority is to establish complete transparency in parliamentary operations, enabling every citizen of Taiwan's society to oversee parliamentary operations without barriers, and to examine the concrete words and actions of every legislator in parliamentary deliberations without media editing and embellishment.
4. In view of this, as members of Taiwan's civil society, we solemnly declare that to defend Taiwan's freedom, democracy, rule of law, and human rights, we will actively engage in the work of monitoring the parliament. In addition to promoting the transparency and public disclosure of parliamentary information, we will closely monitor the introduction and deliberation of bills in the Legislative Yuan with a responsible attitude to fulfill our civic and social responsibilities. In terms of concrete measures, we will demand that the Legislative Yuan immediately publish its established video-on-demand services on the internet, allowing people nationwide to monitor the quality of legislative deliberations of the public servants they elected in the most direct and efficient manner. The organizations participating in this statement will also actively organize the "Legislative Quality Monitoring Alliance" to oversee bills deliberated by the Legislative Yuan based on legal professionalism, maintaining close cooperation and division of labor with the existing "Citizen Congress Watch," and reporting the results to society at appropriate times.
5. We deeply hope, and will make our most sincere efforts, to ensure that such absurd ignorance and power arrogance are eradicated from Taiwanese society, and that the standards of Taiwan's democracy and rule of law continue to grow and thrive!