The Taiwan Association of University Professors (
The group yesterday also urged the public not to support the 13 lawmakers in the year-end legislative elections.
"They are so notorious for their words and deeds that they should be disqualified as legislators," Shane Lee (
Lee said some legislators were put on the list for their involvement with gangster syndicates and money politics.
Others on the list include former scholars or judges who have nonetheless performed miserably in the legislature, Lee said.
The 13 legislators include the New Party's Elmer Fung (
Fung, who was on top of the list, sarcastically said yesterday that he felt "honored to be criticized by hardline Taiwan Independence activists."
Fung was ranked by the group as the most abominable legislator of the 13.
Professors from the association yesterday said that Fung had inappropriately grilled the president's aide Ma Yong-cheng (馬永成), proposed cutting the presidential office's budget, protested the selling of the Japanese comic book On Taiwan (台灣論) and echoed China's protests by lashing out at former president Lee Teng-hui's (李登輝) plan to visit Japan.
Chen, the legislator from the KMT, counter-attacked the association's move, saying "they should be disqualified as university professors since they have made inexplicable accusations without any reasonable evidence."
Chen, Lee Chia-chin and Hsieh Chang-chieh were singled out yesterday by the association for questioning Minister of Economic Affairs Lin Hsin-yi (
Ting was named because he had initiated the recall vote against the president, while the association said Mu and Wu had insulted Minister of Education Ovid Tzeng (曾志朗), and Liao and Chou had embarrassed the premier.
The association said that it would continue monitoring legislators' performance and would later come up with a list of more names, if necessary.
"If the public can boycott these poorly performing legislators' participation in politics, it may help the functioning of the legislature," said professor of history at National Taiwan University (NTU), Cheng Ching-jen (
But another association member, Li Yung-chih (李永熾), who is also professor of history at NTU, yesterday cautioned the media not to assist these legislators in stirring up legislative infighting.
Li urged the media to refuse to report some news events staged by certain legislators who to try to excuse themselves from wrongdoing.
LONG FLIGHT: The jets would be flown by US pilots, with Taiwanese copilots in the two-seat F-16D variant to help familiarize them with the aircraft, the source said The US is expected to fly 10 Lockheed Martin F-16C/D Block 70/72 jets to Taiwan over the coming months to fulfill a long-awaited order of 66 aircraft, a defense official said yesterday. Word that the first batch of the jets would be delivered soon was welcome news to Taiwan, which has become concerned about delays in the delivery of US arms amid rising military tensions with China. Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official said the initial tranche of the nation’s F-16s are rolling off assembly lines in the US and would be flown under their own power to Taiwan by way
‘OF COURSE A COUNTRY’: The president outlined that Taiwan has all the necessary features of a nation, including citizens, land, government and sovereignty President William Lai (賴清德) discussed the meaning of “nation” during a speech in New Taipei City last night, emphasizing that Taiwan is a country as he condemned China’s misinterpretation of UN Resolution 2758. The speech was the first in a series of 10 that Lai is scheduled to give across Taiwan. It is the responsibility of Taiwanese citizens to stand united to defend their national sovereignty, democracy, liberty, way of life and the future of the next generation, Lai said. This is the most important legacy the people of this era could pass on to future generations, he said. Lai went on to discuss
MISSION: The Indo-Pacific region is ‘the priority theater,’ where the task of deterrence extends across the entire region, including Taiwan, the US Pacific Fleet commander said The US Navy’s “mission of deterrence” in the Indo-Pacific theater applies to Taiwan, Pacific Fleet Commander Admiral Stephen Koehler told the South China Sea Conference on Tuesday. The conference, organized by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), is an international platform for senior officials and experts from countries with security interests in the region. “The Pacific Fleet’s mission is to deter aggression across the Western Pacific, together with our allies and partners, and to prevail in combat if necessary, Koehler said in the event’s keynote speech. “That mission of deterrence applies regionwide — including the South China Sea and Taiwan,” he
UNPRECEDENTED: In addition to the approved recall motions, cases such as Ma Wen-chun’s in Nantou are still under review, while others lack enough signatures The Central Election Commission (CEC) announced yesterday that a recall vote would take place on July 26, after it approved the first batch of recall motions targeting 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers and Hsinchu Mayor Ann Kao (高虹安). Taiwan is in the midst of an unprecedented wave of mass recall campaigns, following a civil society push that echoed a call made by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) in January to initiate signature drives aimed at unseating KMT legislators. Under the Civil Servants Election and Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法), Taiwanese can initiate a recall of district-elected lawmakers by collecting