Lawmakers from across party lines yesterday voiced their doubts that the Legislative Yuan's Discipline Committee, long criticized for its inaction, will mete out appropriate punishments to unruly legislators involved in the latest outbreak of physical violence at the legislature.
The committee, comprised of the chairpersons of the ten legislative committees, has never taken action against members involved in violent conduct.
During a meeting of the Education Committee yesterday morning, independent legislator Lo Fu-chu (羅福助) struck female colleague Diane Lee (李慶安), who insinuated that he had misused his power and interfered in the reshuffle of the board of a private college being investigated for financial irregularities.
Tu Peng-sen (
Tu said that Legislative Speaker Wang Jing-pyng (
Wang told reporters he regretted the incident and promised to address it tomorrow at the latest.
The disciplinary committee may not take the initiative to probe the controversy unless asked to do so by the legislature.
Staff working for the committee would not talk to the media except to say that there was nothing the committee could do for the time being. Independent lawmaker Liao Hsueh-kuang (廖學廣) said that he doubted whether the committee would dare take any action against Lo, whom he blames for his abduction in 1996, during which time he was blindfolded, gagged and put in a cage. Liao had incurred Lo's wrath for criticizing his background in organized crime.
Lo admits to being one of the three founders and the "spiritual leader" of the Tien Tau Meng (天道盟), a syndicate of Taiwanese gangs. He denies, however, that the organization is involved in criminal activities.
Fearing violent reprisals, few lawmakers have the guts to challenge Lo, Liao said.
In the 1980s, Lo was jailed in a government campaign against hooligans. He later spent two years abroad in self-imposed exile before being elected to the legislature in late 1995.
"Everything will return to normal after the media frenzy subsides in a couple of days' time," Liao said, adding that it was certain that the disciplinary committee would not deprive any members of their powers, the severest penalty available.
Other potential punishments include denial of entry to legislative sessions or a mandatory apology to the person wronged. Echoing the sense of frustration, KMT lawmaker Pan Wei-kang (潘維剛) warned that violence, if left uncurbed, would turn the legislature into a wrestling ring, in which muscle, rather than professional know-how, reigns supreme.
South Korea has adjusted its electronic arrival card system to no longer list Taiwan as a part of China, a move that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said would help facilitate exchanges between the two sides. South Korea previously listed “Taiwan” as “Taiwan (China)” in the drop-down menus of its online arrival card system, where people had to fill out where they came from and their next destination. The ministry had requested South Korea make a revision and said it would change South Korea’s name on Taiwan’s online immigration system from “Republic of Korea” to “Korea (South),” should the issue not be
The Legislative Yuan’s Finance Committee yesterday approved proposed amendments to the Amusement Tax Act (娛樂稅法) that would abolish taxes on films, cultural activities and competitive sporting events, retaining the fee only for dance halls and golf courses. The proposed changes would set the maximum tax rate for dance halls and golf courses at 50 and 20 percent respectively, with local governments authorized to suspend the levies. Article 2 of the act says that “amusement tax shall be levied on tickets sold or fees charged by amusement places, facilities or activities” in six categories: “Cinema; professional singing, story-telling, dancing, circus, magic show, acrobatics
Tainan, Taipei and New Taipei City recorded the highest fines nationwide for illegal accommodations in the first quarter of this year, with fines issued in the three cities each exceeding NT$7 million (US$220,639), Tourism Administration data showed. Among them, Taipei had the highest number of illegal short-term rental units, with 410. There were 3,280 legally registered hotels nationwide in the first quarter, down by 14 properties, or 0.43 percent, from a year earlier, likely indicating operators exiting the market, the agency said. However, the number of unregistered properties rose to 1,174, including 314 illegal hotels and 860 illegal short-term rental
INFLATION UP? The IMF said CPI would increase to 1.5 percent this year, while the DGBAS projected it would rise to 1.68 percent, with GDP per capita of US$44,181 The IMF projected Taiwan’s real GDP would grow 5.2 percent this year, up from its 2.1 percent outlook in January, despite fears of global economic disruptions sparked by the US-Iran conflict. Taiwan’s consumer price index (CPI) is projected to increase to 1.5 percent, while unemployment would be 3.4 percent, roughly in line with estimates for Asia as a whole, the international body wrote in its Global Economic Outlook Report published in the US on Monday. The figures are comparatively better than the IMF outlook for the rest of the world, which pegged real GDP growth at 3.1 percent, down from 3.3 percent
RSS