Re-recognition of Law

Re-recognition of Law

You should be congratulated if you live in a country having a better situation than Taiwan, writes the author

Under Merriam-Webster there are six entries for "law" the first of which is normally understood in the law industry all over the world and is the topic to be discussed here. Specifically, the first entry includes 5 items, the first two of which each have three prongs, as follows:

a (1): a binding custom or practice of a community: a rule of conduct or action prescribed or formally recognized as binding or enforced by a controlling authority

(2): the whole body of such customs, practices, or rules where the courts exist to uphold, interpret, and apply the law

(3): COMMON LAW

b (1): the control brought about by the existence or enforcement of such law

(2): the action of laws considered as a means of redressing wrongs

(3): the agency of or an agent of established

c: a rule or order that it is advisable or obligatory to observe

d: something compatible with or enforceable by established law

e: CONTROL, AUTHORITY

From the above, it appears to us that a law is or should be generally a good custom or practice or authority for redressing wrongs.

In Wikipedia, "Law is a system of rules created and enforced through social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a science and the art of justice." From this, although the precise definition for law may be uneasy, it is apparent to know that the law relates to science and/or justice. Although it may be hard again to precisely define what science and justice respectively are, it should never be difficult to distinguish between wrongs and justice/science for a layman or especially a well-educated political person.

If you find no loophole in the above deduction, self-believe in leading a fully rational or logical life and regard laws having their supremacy in governing better lives, you may feel painful for living in the current world after you know the political realities happening at least in Taiwan if you believe that a political system is to improve the life and to chase freedom, democracy and justice.

The current ruling party, Democratic Progress Party (DPP), was fostered to grow by the past ruling party, Kuo-Ming Tang Party (KMT) which was defeated by the Communist Party and fled from Mainland China to Taiwan in 1949. DPP inter alia (1) used violence to stop KMT from implementing kinds of policies and criticized KMT's inabilities, (2) gathered together all opposite entities, e.g. pro-environment groups by promising to follow their proposals after getting the ruling power… After winning the last election, DPP inter alia (A) tried all efforts in smothering KMT in order that KMT can no more win the future elections, (B) closed an opposite TV station, (C) threatened all media to get punished or no more public advertisements if unfriendly to them, (D) established network troops to attack and caused policemen to visit selected influential persons expressing unfavorable opinions to them, (E) shared national budgets only with those who support DPP or are their friends, (F) either disregards or ignores any law which illegalizes their decisions or policies…

From the above incomplete passages, we can easily find the following issues: if a government owning the state power often does wrongs but straightforwardly ignores their illegal nature, what does the law mean, where do people find the authority to enforce the law, how may people seek the law or justice, why should we bear the law to be defined in this way, when can we get the law to timely reflect the justice…?

DPP is an expert in election, creating public opinion, forging how great they have made small achievements and disguising how innocent they are when there is a disaster or mishap they directly or indirectly cultivated. If you are lucky enough to live in a country not having the above issues and if Taiwan is too small to draw your attention to the above effects, you may feel helpful in immersing yourself into the same atmosphere when this article is authored, if you think of the case where Donald Trump led the US.

In the atmosphere, you want to know what the law means, where to find the real or effective laws, how to get laws valid to all including the ruler or ruling party, when your country can eventually conform to rule of law, why could the world, the country or the law be so shaped…

In such society, the laws are either effective only when they favor DPP, but are ineffective when unfavorable, or interpreted by DPP what the laws actually mean. In such a situation, does anyone feel there is a law in Taiwan? Certainly, if a law will not jeopardize the ruling power or potentiality of DPP, that law is a law. Any other law unconformable to DPP's ruling interests, that law may not be a law. For a foreigner, this situation may not be a problem. It may be imaginable that it is a great hardship for a person not supporting DPP or really fond of rule of law because what he thinks, speaks, runs a business… may or will violate the law as defined by DPP.

Is the above situation occurring only in Taiwan? How should the nationals do if their country has the above situation? You should be congratulated if you live in a country having a better situation. If you like logical reasoning and feel that your country may have a slight extent of the above atmosphere, you might feel annoyed or excited upon digging this question into a deeper level. Do you think there is an answer for this annoyance? Or, would you rather not bother yourself to be trapped in this boring question? If there is a person heavily plagued by this queer issue, I may like to squeeze my life of insufficient sleeping hours to write another article aggravating or alleviating the issue. March 31, 2021 in Taipei.

Disclaimer – The views expressed in this article are the personal views of the authors and are purely informative in nature.