TAIPEI (TVBS News) — Taiwan People's Party (TPP) legislator-at-large candidate Vivian Huang raised concerns Monday (Dec. 4) about the proposal to reinstate the Special Investigation Division (SID), questioning the necessity of this move when other prosecutors should be capable of handling cases without it.
This debate comes on the heels of Kuomintang (KMT) presidential candidate Hou Yu-ih's recent proposal to revive the SID, which had been disbanded.
Huang called on the KMT and Hou to detail the specifics and reasoning of how they intend to restore the SID before she decides whether to support the initiative.
TPP's presidential candidate, Ko Wen-je, added to the criticism by arguing against establishing new units whenever problems arise.
He expressed doubts about such measures, wondering if it would lead to effective solutions and pointed to the currently existing anti-corruption mechanisms and the investment in training young legal professionals as presumably sufficient.
During a press conference on judicial reform, TPP legislator-at-large candidates, including Huang, Huang Kuo-chang, and Chiu Hui-ju, emphasized combating judicial injustices aligned with the elite, unlawful influence-peddling, organized crime involving guns and drugs, opaque parole processes, and stressed the need for legal reforms.
These reforms include the introduction of whistle-blower protection laws and the criminalization of unlawful gifting and influence trading.
Vivian Huang highlighted multiple challenges prosecutors face, including interference from the prosecutor general or ruling party legislators, inadequate professional training, and a rise in fraud cases, which all pose significant obstacles to case handling by prosecutors.
