Response to the Third Reading and Passage of the Citizen Judges Act: Press Conference on the 24th Day of Sit-in Protest Against the Inclusion of the Lay Participation Bill in the Legislative Yuan's Extraordinary Session

The "Alliance for the Concurrent Trial of Jury and Lay Judge Systems," formed by civil society groups including the Judicial Reform Foundation and the Taiwan Jury Association, held a press conference in front of the Legislative Yuan at 11:15 a.m. on July 22 in response to the third-reading passage of the Citizen Judges Act, inviting opposition legislators to share their views on the act's passage. Besides condemning the procedural flaws and hasty content of the majority party's legislation, the Alliance and opposition legislators said they would continue to monitor the implementation of judicial reform and keep pushing for a jury system.

The Alliance's co-conveners, the opposition legislators who came to show support, and members of the public taking part in the sit-in first chanted together: "Oppose the DPP's hasty legislation! Oppose President Tsai's exclusion of the jury system!"

Standing beside a sign showing the "83% mainstream public opinion" from the Alliance's recent poll, Attorney Lin Yung-sung joined Alliance members in thanking the three opposition parties for their support. Although they knew their combined votes were fewer than the DPP's, during more than 24 hours of nonstop voting they still earnestly questioned the lay judge system article by article and examined the advantages of a jury system. In particular, KMT caucus whip Lin Wei-chou, TPP caucus whip Lai Hsiang-ling and Legislator Chang Chi-lu, and NPP caucus whip Chiu Hsien-chih and Legislator Chen Jiau-hua have been the Alliance's most steadfast partners throughout.

Attorney Lin went on to question how the DPP, disregarding both the more than 80% of the public who support running the two systems side by side and its own party platform, could hold 24 hours of nonstop voting through the third reading. Like the exhausting interrogation tactics of prosecutors and police, this was not only unfair to the minority opposition parties, but a law produced by such a flawed process raises serious questions about its quality.

Attorney Lin added that more than 180 groups in the Alliance had voiced their opposition during the 24-day sit-in. Although the sit-in ends today, the effort will never end. The Alliance will keep monitoring the trial implementation of the lay judge system and will not give up on pushing for a trial of the jury system, so that the judicial system the public truly wants can take root in Taiwan.

Chang Hung-lin, Executive Director of Citizen Congress Watch, reiterated the concerns he raised at the morning's press conference: for such a major bill, the DPP insisted on voting through the night, plainly to evade public and civil society scrutiny of the debate. If the ruling party is confident in the bill it forced through, he asked, why not lay it out in the open for public review rather than holding a crude, irresponsible marathon vote in the dead of night?

He noted that the Legislative Yuan's live broadcast clearly showed many legislators pressing voting buttons on behalf of others. Chang lamented that during deliberation on such a major bill, the Speaker, who should play a neutral, coordinating role, did nothing, which he found deeply disappointing, and he expressed regret at such rushed and chaotic lawmaking. He also stressed that the DPP once prided itself on "persuading people with reason" but has now sunk to "forcing compliance through the tyranny of the majority." The public is watching, and the party may well be voted out in the future for losing public trust.

KMT caucus whip Lin Wei-chou exposed and condemned three tactics the DPP habitually uses in the legislature:
1. Extraordinary sessions: when major bills face differing views in society, the DPP schedules them for an extraordinary session to pass them quickly, because extraordinary sessions require no public hearings or committee review, only votes, and voting is exactly what the DPP, as the legislative majority, abuses.
2. 24-hour nonstop voting that shuts out outside voices: the DPP completely ignores outside voices and votes bills through in the shortest possible time so that public outcry dissipates. Lin pointed out that with today's media, a DPP clinging to this outdated mindset cannot cover everything up; all the videos and voting records will remain, and the public will see how the DPP avoided communication by voting at night to dodge controversy.
3. Abusing its majority and betraying mainstream public opinion: having the right color does not mean doing the right thing. The DPP once won elections by a landslide with the support of the mainstream public; by betraying that mainstream opinion today, it will inevitably pay the price.
Lin closed by stressing that the KMT, as an opposition party, will keep working with the Alliance to achieve the judicial reform the people want.

TPP caucus whip Lai Hsiang-ling thanked the Alliance for accompanying the Legislative Yuan through 24 days of sessions and hoped the opposition parties would keep cooperating to carry the right message to the public and the media. All the recent activities, whether marches or evening rallies, were meant to help society understand anew what a jury is and what citizen judges are, she said, and the TPP will keep playing its oversight role as an opposition party.

Director Hsiao Yi-min pointed out that, according to the Central Weather Bureau, this June was the hottest month in nearly a century, and last week was the second-hottest summer week in a hundred years. The Alliance persisted in its sit-in through this sweltering heat only to show its determination that the jury system not be excluded.

NPP Legislator Chiu Hsien-chih, "live and fired up," said he had taken the podium to state his views on every single article, only to hear legislators snoring in the chamber, a repeat of the committee review process. He recalled that in April another bill had to be debated late into the night, and by then few legislators remained, so the quality of deliberation was naturally very poor. Under these circumstances, the majority party forced the vote through, and it is truly baffling what the rush was.

Chiu said that pushing for a jury system is not about himself. The judiciary is the people's last resort, but in court, especially when judges are overbearing or in wrongful conviction cases, ordinary people without power often have a very hard time obtaining a fair trial and remedy, a problem people of higher socioeconomic status do not face. With conviction rates under the Japanese-style lay judge system remaining extremely high (99.5%), it is highly doubtful whether it can make Taiwan's judicial reform succeed. Chiu also apologized to the public: despite his efforts to introduce a jury bill, it ultimately could not be realized, nor could he stop the crude, hasty legislation from passing. As Attorneys Lin and Cheng have said, introducing a good system is a long-term project, and the NPP will keep working with civil society so that a jury system can one day blossom in Taiwan.

Attorney Cheng Wen-lung also thanked the three opposition parties for choosing reform and progress, and charged that the act passed this time should not be called the Citizen Judges Act but the "Act to Entrench Bureaucratic Authoritarianism, Choose Obedience, and Avoid Reform." He stressed that the vote exposed the DPP's "three nots": not honest, not democratic, and not reformist. President Tsai has bowed to these authoritarian bureaucrats; the DPP has a legislative majority large enough to govern fully, yet chose not to reform. If even President Tsai chooses to obey authority when facing bureaucrats, he asked, what can be expected of citizen judges drawn from ordinary people?

Attorney Cheng concluded that the act the DPP forced through today is a regressive, fake reform. The Alliance will keep working to push for a jury system and hopes the opposition parties will continue to stand with it. At 11:45 a.m. today, the Alliance made its final march around the Legislative Yuan and ended its 24-day sit-in at the main gate.

Attendees

Attorney Lin Yung-sung / Chairperson, Judicial Reform Foundation (Co-convener)
Attorney Cheng Wen-lung / Founding Chairperson, Taiwan Jury Association (Co-convener)
Chang Hung-lin / Executive Director, Citizen Congress Watch
Legislator Lin Wei-chou / Caucus Whip, Kuomintang Legislative Caucus
Legislator Lai Hsiang-ling / Caucus Whip, Taiwan People's Party Legislative Caucus
Legislator Chang Chi-lu / Taiwan People's Party
Legislator Chiu Hsien-chih / Caucus Whip, New Power Party Legislative Caucus
Legislator Chen Jiau-hua / New Power Party

Press Contacts

Judicial Reform Foundation / Director Hsiao Yi-min
Taiwan Jury Association / Deputy Secretary-General Lin Ping-chuan