<p>"Social Legislative Society Commentary" Taiwan's Democracy Has Gone Awry</p>

Since the September political strife, the executive, legislative, judicial, and control branches, as well as the leadership of the two major political parties—including the President, the President of the Legislative Yuan, the President of the Control Yuan, the Premier, the Prosecutor-General, the opposition party caucus whip, the Minister of Justice, chief prosecutors, and even party chairpersons—have all been implicated in illegal or disciplinary misconduct.

The President was the first to violate legal procedural justice by hastily stripping the legislative speaker of his party membership using party "discipline." The Prosecutor-General engaged in unlawful wiretapping, leaked secrets, and unconstitutionally reported confidential information about ongoing investigations to the President and the Premier. The President of the Legislative Yuan and the opposition party caucus whip were implicated in lobbying/intercession, yet the Legislative Yuan's Committee on Discipline has either failed to act or superficially decided "not" to discipline them. The President of the Control Yuan openly shielded the President and the Prosecutor-General while attacking the legislative speaker. Control Yuan members resolved not to impeach the law-breaking Prosecutor-General, and it is highly likely they will also fail to pass the resolution of the Evaluation Committee for Prosecutors. Under intense pressure from the President who also serves as the party chairman, the ruling Kuomintang revoked the legislative speaker's party membership, while the Democratic Progressive Party threw its full support behind its own legislative caucus whip and the Kuomintang legislative speaker—both implicated in lobbying—without initiating any internal party disciplinary mechanisms to address the lobbying case.

In exploring the root causes of why high-ranking government and party officials are successively implicated in illegality and disorder, it largely stems from the collapse of legal and disciplinary systems. The President, serving concurrently as party chairman, blurred the boundaries between national laws and party internal regulations, transforming the "President-cum-party-chairman" into an emperor whose imperial will decides everything. The Control Yuan has historically drawn more criticism than praise, capable of swatting flies but never touching tigers. Institutionally, both its admonitions and impeachments are exceedingly weak; admonitions have never been truly effective, and even if an impeachment case is established, it still must be referred to the Commission on the Disciplinary Sanctions of Functionaries. Following constitutional amendments, Control Yuan members lack any popular mandate, turning the institution into a tool for successive presidents to dispense political patronage. The Legislative Yuan's disciplinary mechanisms have virtually never exerted any substantive effect; regarding the alleged lobbying involving the speaker and the opposition congressional leader, it has fundamentally refused to handle the matter or has only engaged in superficial handling. Finally, neither of the two major political parties has fairly handled politicians affiliated with them who are suspected of illegal or disciplinary violations.

With the system compromised, the high-ranking powerholders executing the system have also been crippled by human failure and ill-planning. The President, the heads of the three Yuan, the chairpersons of the two parties, and the Prosecutor-General have all been incapable of upholding government and party law and discipline, and have even taken the lead in violating them. The September political strife demonstrates the collapse of law- and discipline-related mechanisms coupled with human failure, leaving law and discipline utterly non-existent.