A group of academics launched a signature campaign yesterday urging the Legislative Yuan to amend new legislation that they say infringes on their right to participate in political activities.
“Although it is necessary to regulate the political activities of public officials in a democracy, we believe the legislation is inappropriate as it deprives the right of numerous public servants and teachers to voice their opinions on politics,” Wu Nai-teh (吳乃德), a research fellow at the Institute of Sociology at the Academia Sinica, told a press conference.
Wu was referring to the Act Governing the Administrative Impartiality of Public Officials (公務人員行政中立法).
The Act prohibits academics from wearing or displaying flags or emblems of any political parties or groups at teachers’ or researchers’ offices. It also prohibits academics from convening demonstrations, launching signature bids and the editing, printing or distribution of political flyers or related documents using public equipment at public offices. The Examination Yuan and the Executive Yuan are also authorized to impose more bans through administrative orders.
Meanwhile, the legislature also passed a resolution requiring that the Ministry of Education submit a bill regulating the impartiality of all teachers to the legislature by September.
The academics yesterday panned the legislature for subjecting public school teachers who double as school administrators and researchers at public research institutes to the ban stipulated in the Act.
Wu Rwei-ren (吳叡人), an assistant research fellow at the Institute of Taiwan History at Academia Sinica, described the Act as “ridiculous” and suggested the government immediately “discipline” him as he could have violated the act by co-initiating the signature campaign.
“I bought a T-shirt from a friend recently that bears the slogan: ‘Taiwan belongs to the Taiwanese people (台灣是台灣人的台灣).’ I could be charged with violation of the Act if I wear the shirt at my research office because the slogan is clearly pro-independence,” he said. “I could also be seen as breaking the law by displaying the Tibetan flag at my office to mark the Tibetan Uprising Day on March 10 every year.”
Yen Chueh-an (顏厥安), a law professor at National Taiwan University, said the inclusion of researchers at public research facilities in the Act could be unconstitutional as Article 11 of the Constitution protects their freedom of speech and research.
In response, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus whip Lin Yi-shih (林益世) questioned why the academics failed to voice their opposition to the Act when legislators were negotiating its content.
The ministry’s Department of Personnel also issued a statement later yesterday, saying that it would propose “the least stringent” regulations on teacher impartiality after deliberating over related regulations in “advanced nations.”
The regulations will not affect teacher working methods or infringe upon teachers’ freedom of speech or freedom to decide on teaching materials, the department said.
NO LIVERPOOL TRIP: Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting, who won a gold medal in the boxing at the Paris Olympics, was embroiled in controversy about her gender at that event Taiwanese boxer Lin Yu-ting (林郁婷) will not attend this year’s World Boxing Championships in Liverpool, England, due to a lack of response regarding her sex tests from the organizer, World Boxing. The national boxing association on Monday said that it had submitted all required tests to World Boxing, but had not received a response as of Monday, the departure day for the championships. It said the decision for Lin to skip the championships was made to protect its athletes, ensuring they would not travel to the UK without a guarantee of participation. Lin, who won a gold medal in the women’s 57kg boxing
RESPONSE: The transit sends a message that China’s alignment with other countries would not deter the West from defending freedom of navigation, an academic said Canadian frigate the Ville de Quebec and Australian guided-missile destroyer the Brisbane transited the Taiwan Strait yesterday morning, the first time the two nations have conducted a joint freedom of navigation operation. The Canadian and Australian militaries did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The Ministry of National Defense declined to confirm the passage, saying only that Taiwan’s armed forces had deployed surveillance and reconnaissance assets, along with warships and combat aircraft, to safeguard security across the Strait. The two vessels were observed transiting northward along the eastern side of the Taiwan Strait’s median line, with Japan being their most likely destination,
‘NOT ALONE’: A Taiwan Strait war would disrupt global trade routes, and could spark a worldwide crisis, so a powerful US presence is needed as a deterrence, a US senator said US Senator Deb Fischer on Thursday urged her colleagues in the US Congress to deepen Washington’s cooperation with Taiwan and other Indo-Pacific partners to contain the global security threat from China. Fischer and other lawmakers recently returned from an official trip to the Indo-Pacific region, where they toured US military bases in Hawaii and Guam, and visited leaders, including President William Lai (賴清德). The trip underscored the reality that the world is undergoing turmoil, and maintaining a free and open Indo-Pacific region is crucial to the security interests of the US and its partners, she said. Her visit to Taiwan demonstrated ways the
The US has revoked Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) authorization to freely ship essential gear to its main Chinese chipmaking base, potentially curtailing its production capabilities at that older-generation facility. American officials recently informed TSMC of their decision to end the Taiwanese chipmaker’s so-called validated end user (VEU) status for its Nanjing site. The action mirrors steps the US took to revoke VEU designations for China facilities owned by Samsung Electronics Co and SK Hynix Inc. The waivers are set to expire in about four months. “TSMC has received notification from the US Government that our VEU authorization for TSMC Nanjing
RSS