The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday said Premier Lin Chuan (林全) should stop giving instructions about the operation of the Committee of Illegal Party Asset Settlement, adding that it is justifiable for a party to pay its current and retired staff members.
“The Act Governing the Handling of Illegal Properties by Political Parties and Their Affiliate Organizations [政黨及其附隨組織不當取得財產處理條例] is supposed to create a level playing field for political parties and improve our democratic system, rather than driving opposition political parties into a financial quagmire,” KMT Culture and Communications Committee director Chow Chi-wai (周志偉) said.
Chow said that prohibiting the KMT from paying its staff members would prevent the party from functioning properly, leaving the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) the only major political party, which runs counter to the legislative principles of the act.
The committee should be an independent body whose members must be nonpartisan, Chow said.
“It is regrettable that even before the committee’s establishment, the Executive Yuan has begun to give directives. Lin’s remarks are extremely inappropriate and have made the committee a tool of political struggle,” Chow said.
Chow was referring to a news release by the Executive Yuan yesterday morning to announce that the Act Governing the Handling of Ill-gotten Properties by Political Parties and Their Affiliate Organizations — which was promulgated by President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Wednesday — is set to take effect today.
Lin said that when the act takes effect, political parties would be barred from disposing all concerned illegal assets and are obligated to register with the committee all of the targeted assets within one year of the law’s promulgation.
While lauding the act’s promulgation and the pending establishment of the illegal party asset settlement committee as a major milestone in creating a level political playing field, Lin said political parties should tap into legitimate sources of funds, such as party membership fees, political donations and campaign subsidies, to take care of the interests of their staff members.
“They should not use illegal assets to pay salaries or pensions to its current or retired workers. In other words, the term in the ‘interests of party staff’ is not an ‘imperial sword’ that offers its wielder immunity from the act,” Lin said.
Lin’s remarks are widely perceived to be in response to recent allegations that the KMT is considering giving its staff five months’ salary in advance to prevent the money from being seized by the government following the legislature’s passage of the ill-gotten party assets act on July 25.
However, Chow said Article 9 of the act stipulates that party assets to be used to fulfill the party’s statutory obligations or for other just causes are not covered by the act.
“It is a matter of course and also a legal obligation imposed by the Labor Standards Act (勞動基準法) for employers to pay their employees,” Chow said.
He added that the Executive Yuan’s comments go beyond the act and are aimed at driving a wedge between the KMT leadership and party workers, which he said reek of attempts to launch a political struggle.
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