Taipei City and the Ministry of Justice exchanged blows yesterday over a ministry decision to reprimand supervisors of a city official who on Tuesday physically obstructed and refused to let policemen conduct a drunk-driving test on him.
Taipei officials accuse the ministry of failing to discuss its final decision with the city.
The justice ministry said, however, that it had handled the matter in accordance with established regulations originally promulgated by the mayor himself when he served as justice minister in the early 1990s.
On Wednesday, the city proposed that the justice ministry give one major demerit to Yuan Yung-lin (袁永麟), director of the anti-corruption department at the city's Shihlin District Office, for endangering public safety by driving under the influence of alcohol.
The city also suggested giving him one minor demerit for hindering law enforcement and transferring him to a non-administrative position.
Disciplinary measures or position changes in the anti-corruption department must first be approved by the justice ministry.
The ministry approved the city's proposal late Wednesday afternoon, but, drawing the ire of city officials, also decided to add two additional municipal officials to the list of those to be punished.
They two are Wen Hsin-lin (
Although the city said it understands and respects the justice ministry's right to make a final decision on the matter, it argued that the city should have been consulted before the decision was made public.
"The city was stunned and feels sorry for what happened. We thought that the central and local governments were supposed to work as a team and respect each other," city spokesperson Wu Yu-sheng (吳育昇) quoted Taipei City Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) as saying at a press conference held at Taipei City Hall yesterday.
Wu added that Ma didn't know about the ministry's decision until the media asked for his opinion late Wednesday afternoon.
"We took the initiative to contact the [justice] minister but were told that he was out of the country. We then requested his substitute offer an explanation in public later that day, but to no avail," he said.
Wu criticized the ministry for doing such a lousy job during the decision-making process.
"It shouldn't have made public the proposed disciplinary measures until the justice minister gave his final approval," he said.
In response, Liu Chan-hua (
"The ministry did not disrespect the city government. We did try to contact the mayor, but to no avail, because he was in a meeting," Liu said.
However, Liu had said earlier that he left a message with one of Ma's aides. Liu also dismissed the city's claim that there were no administrative flaws on their side.
"I felt extremely confused about the city's accusation because we did everything in accordance with regulations laid down by Ma himself," he said, alluding to Ma's stint as justice minister between 1993 and 1996.
During his three-year tenure, Ma pushed aggressively for judicial reform including letting the ministry be the final arbiter on the deployment and punishment of anti-corruption officials.
"I'd like to know why the city didn't discuss Yuan's proposed disciplinary measure with us before it made it public," he retorted.
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