President Ma Ying-jeou defended the Ministry of Justice’s...

President Ma Ying-jeou defended the Ministry of Justice’s execution of 5 death row inmates on March 4, and dismissed concerns that the move violated the International Covenant on Political and Civil Rights. While Ma declined to say whether the government would suspend executions in the future, Premier Wu Den-yih suggested the death penalty would not be abolished any time soon. “The executions of capital -punishment were in line with high social expectations and demand for a good public order in a country that respects the rule of law,” he said when approached for a comment on the concerns about the execution voiced by human rights groups. Saying that “it’s not time to abolish capital punishment,” Wu urged activists in opposition to the use of capital punishment to communicate with the public about abolition of the death penalty and build a consensus on the issue. Saying that it took 100 to 200 years for most European countries to eliminate the death penalty, Wu added that “maybe Taiwan could reach that point in a shorter time, like in several decades or so." Wu mentioned the results of several polls suggesting that more than 75 % of Taiwan’s people are still against an abolition of the death penalty because the majority do not feel satisfied with the public order. According to a report released on march 4, by the Ministry of Justice that compiled the results of nine public surveys conducted by several different organizations between 1993 and 2008, nearly 80 percent of the respondents opposed abolition of the death penalty.