The legislature is reviewing President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) nominations for the Examination Yuan and Control Yuan. While opposition legislators would prefer to see both branches of government scrapped altogether, even Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers have been dragging their feet, starting the session late and showing little interest in the review. Even the media have been less than enthusiastic in discussing the nominees. Apparently, there is little love lost on these two government branches.
The Examination Yuan and Control Yuan were originally designated by Republic of China (ROC) founding father Sun Yat-sen (孫逸仙) to complement the executive, legislative and judicial branches of government. They are charged with holding national examinations and recruiting and supervising public functionaries.
These roles, including powers of investigation and impeachment, overlap with those of the executive and legislative branches within a democratic government system.
The powers of the Examination Yuan have been, to a large degree, usurped by the Executive Yuan’s Directorate-General of Personnel Administration, while the Control Yuan has for a long time been accused of pursuing small fry instead of big fish, and of not having the resources to provide oversight of the Executive Yuan.
It is no wonder that many believe the institutions have become a political appendix, or that academics and the opposition consistently call for the Examination Yuan and Control Yuan to be abolished and the powers of the former to be given to the Executive Yuan and those of the latter to the Legislative Yuan.
Ma has submitted 21 nominees for the Examination Yuan, including its president and vice president, and 29 nominees for the Control Yuan.
Every nominee is either someone who has worked under Ma or an academic sympathetic to the KMT. Clearly, these positions are offered as political rewards.
All 50 nominees stand to be remunerated at the same level as ministers, and after a cushy six-year term they can look forward to a nice, fat pension.
Former civil service minister Chu Wu-hsien (朱武獻) said it best: “Members of the Examination Yuan do not need to attend meetings. If they do attend, they need not say anything. And if they do say something, they do not have to do anything about it.”
This is because it is a collegiate system. Not only are the positions well paid and undemanding, members are allowed to hold another position to boost their income.
In the past the Control Yuan members commanded a degree of respect. Nowadays, they do not bear up to close scrutiny, and not even Google will help you dig up anything of worth that they have done lately, except for perhaps impeaching former secretary-general Chen Feng-yi (陳豐義). Infighting within the Control Yuan has made the institution a laughing stock.
Not only did Control Yuan President Wang Chien-shien (王建煊) say he thought the institution should be scrapped, his predecessor, Wang Tso-jung (王作榮), also said that it would be better if the Control Yuan did not exist.
The Control Yuan was at its best, and was criticized least, when the KMT boycotted the nomination list submitted by former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), stalling the nominations in the legislature. During that time, the Control Yuan was crippled, and all was well in the world. Perhaps there is no immediate hurry to amend the ROC Constitution and abolish the two government branches, but the best way forward may be to scrap Ma’s nominations and allow them to fade into obscurity.
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