The election of legislators with criminal or gangster backgrounds, or massive conflicts of interest as chairmen of the legislature's 12 standing committees has become a ritual of every legislative session; yesterdays elections for committee chairmen were no exception.
Independent lawmaker Yen Ching-piao (顏清標), who forfeited his convener's seat on the Economics and Energy Committee in the last session to calm an outcry over his business ties, managed to obtain the berth again.
Yen, convicted last year by a trial court of corruption, attempted murder and obstruction of justice, owns several quarrying companies in the region.
The Ministry of Economics Affairs is the highest regulatory agency on the nation's rivers and riverbeds where quarrying operations are carried out.
Last October, DPP lawmaker Su Chih-fen (蘇治芬) told a news conference that some of her colleagues, whose identities she refused to reveal, were behind illegal quarrying operations in central Taiwan.
Meanwhile DPP lawmaker Lin Wen-lang (林文郎) and PFP colleague Chen Chih-bin (陳志彬) were both elected as the conveners of the Finance Committee despite their deep involvement in the securities industry.
The committee, normally the most popular, is responsible for supervising the Ministry of Finance. Allegations abound that over the years Committee members have sought to pressure the ministry to adopt measures favorable to their portfolios as well as that of their family and friends.
After election, Lin and Chen said they would soon sever their business ties but offered no guarantee as how they would make good on their pledge.
There are three conveners for each of the standing committees. As they wield substantial influence over legislation by controlling the agenda of committee meetings, their opinions carry great weight with policy planners, whose agency falls under the oversight of the corresponding committee.
One of the most notorious beneficiaries of the committee chairmanship system in recent years has been former independent lawmaker Lo Fu-chu (羅福助), a convicted gangster who owns Tashin Securities, and is widely believed to have used his position on the committee to engage in many financial irregularities.
In line with cross-party agreements, the DPP won 13 convener seats; the KMT 10 seats; the PFP 8 seats; and the Non-Partisan Alliance two seats.
NATIONAL SECURITY THREAT: An official said that Guan Guan’s comments had gone beyond the threshold of free speech, as she advocated for the destruction of the ROC China-born media influencer Guan Guan’s (關關) residency permit has been revoked for repeatedly posting pro-China content that threatens national security, the National Immigration Agency said yesterday. Guan Guan has said many controversial things in her videos posted to Douyin (抖音), including “the red flag will soon be painted all over Taiwan” and “Taiwan is an inseparable part of China,” while expressing hope for expedited “reunification.” The agency received multiple reports alleging that Guan Guan had advocated for armed reunification last year. After investigating, the agency last month issued a notice requiring her to appear and account for her actions. Guan Guan appeared as required,
A strong cold air mass is expected to arrive tonight, bringing a change in weather and a drop in temperature, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The coldest time would be early on Thursday morning, with temperatures in some areas dipping as low as 8°C, it said. Daytime highs yesterday were 22°C to 24°C in northern and eastern Taiwan, and about 25°C to 28°C in the central and southern regions, it said. However, nighttime lows would dip to about 15°C to 16°C in central and northern Taiwan as well as the northeast, and 17°C to 19°C elsewhere, it said. Tropical Storm Nokaen, currently
PAPERS, PLEASE: The gang exploited the high value of the passports, selling them at inflated prices to Chinese buyers, who would treat them as ‘invisibility cloaks’ The Yilan District Court has handed four members of a syndicate prison terms ranging from one year and two months to two years and two months for their involvement in a scheme to purchase Taiwanese passports and resell them abroad at a massive markup. A Chinese human smuggling syndicate purchased Taiwanese passports through local criminal networks, exploiting the passports’ visa-free travel privileges to turn a profit of more than 20 times the original price, the court said. Such criminal organizations enable people to impersonate Taiwanese when entering and exiting Taiwan and other countries, undermining social order and the credibility of the nation’s
‘SALAMI-SLICING’: Beijing’s ‘gray zone’ tactics around the Pratas Islands have been slowly intensifying, with the PLA testing Taiwan’s responses and limits, an expert said The Ministry of National Defense yesterday condemned an intrusion by a Chinese drone into the airspace of the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) as a serious disruption of regional peace. The ministry said it detected the Chinese surveillance and reconnaissance drone entering the southwestern parts of Taiwan’s air defense identification zone early yesterday, and it approached the Pratas Islands at 5:41am. The ministry said it immediately notified the garrison stationed in the area to enhance aerial surveillance and alert levels, and the drone was detected in the islands’ territorial airspace at 5:44am, maintaining an altitude outside the effective range of air-defense weaponry. Following
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