Lawmakers victimized by acts of violence of independent lawmaker Lo Fu-chu (
People First Party Legislator Diane Lee (
"The legislature shouldn't be out of the reach of law and order. Violence is not allowed in our society and the legislature should not tolerate behavior such as physical attacks on others," Lee said.
TAIPEI TIMES FILE PHOTO
Lee said it was regretful that the televised violent incident made Taiwan's democratic development the laughing stock of the international community.
Lee said she believed the prosecution decided to charge Lo with being a hoodlum because of the repeated acts of violence he has committed.
"The fact that Lo never attended the investigative hearing held by prosecutors shows that he feels no remorse at all for the incident," Lee said.
Lo is one of several legislators who has resorted to fisticuffs in disputes with colleagues.
On March 2, Lo was sentenced to 59 days in detention by the Taipei District Court for assaulting DPP legislator Yu Jan-daw (
Yu is dissatisfied with what he called a light sentence and has appealed to the Taiwan High Court.
Yu said both Lee's case and his own are evidence of Lo's habitual violence.
"Authorities concerned should continue their investigation as long as there is evidence," Yu said.
Chien Hsi-chieh, another DPP legislator who was slapped by Lo after a quarrel erupted during a committee meeting in the legislature on Jan. 3, 2000, said all acts of violence should be punished and that no lawmaker should be threatened with violence while performing their duties.
"These threats of violence make lawmakers fear for their safety even in doing their job," Chien said.
Independent lawmaker Liao Hsueh-kuang (廖學廣), who blames Lo for his abduction in 1996 -- wherin he was blindfolded, gagged and put in a cage -- said Lo should be put in jail for an extended period of time.
No criminal charge was brought against Lo in Liao's case due to a lack of evidence.
"He [Lo] will be arrested as long as the victims are willing to testify against him. He has been involved in too many cases of violence," Liao said.
Before deciding to refer Lo to police authorities on charges of being a hoodlum, investigators obtained the testimony of a number of Lo's victims, prosecutors said.
In addition to Lee, Yu and Chien, six other lawmakers have been physically attacked by Lo, including DPP legislators Chang Chin-fang (
TAIWAN IS TAIWAN: US Representative Tom Tiffany said the amendment was not controversial, as ‘Taiwan is not — nor has it ever been — part of Communist China’ The US House of Representatives on Friday passed an amendment banning the US Department of Defense from creating, buying or displaying any map that shows Taiwan as part of the People’s Republic of China (PRC). The “Honest Maps” amendment was approved in a voice vote on Friday as part of the Department of Defense Appropriations Act for the 2026 fiscal year. The amendment prohibits using any funds from the act to create, buy or display maps that show Taiwan, Kinmen, Matsu, Penghu, Wuciou (烏坵), Green Island (綠島) or Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼) as part of the PRC. The act includes US$831.5 billion in
The paramount chief of a volcanic island in Vanuatu yesterday said that he was “very impressed” by a UN court’s declaration that countries must tackle climate change. Vanuatu spearheaded the legal case at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands, which on Wednesday ruled that countries have a duty to protect against the threat of a warming planet. “I’m very impressed,” George Bumseng, the top chief of the Pacific archipelago’s island of Ambrym, told reporters in the capital, Port Vila. “We have been waiting for this decision for a long time because we have been victims of this climate change for
Taiwan is hosting the International Linguistics Olympiad (IOL) for the first time, welcoming more than 400 young linguists from 43 nations to National Taiwan University (NTU). Deputy Minister of Education Chu Chun-chang (朱俊彰) said at the opening ceremony yesterday that language passes down knowledge and culture, and influences the way humankind thinks and understands the world. Taiwan is a multicultural and multilingual nation, with Mandarin Chinese, Taiwanese, Hakka, 16 indigenous languages and Taiwan Sign Language all used, Chu said. In addition, Taiwan promotes multilingual education, emphasizes the cultural significance of languages and supports the international mother language movement, he said. Taiwan has long participated
MASSIVE LOSS: If the next recall votes also fail, it would signal that the administration of President William Lai would continue to face strong resistance within the legislature The results of recall votes yesterday dealt a blow to the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) efforts to overturn the opposition-controlled legislature, as all 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers survived the recall bids. Backed by President William Lai’s (賴清德) DPP, civic groups led the recall drive, seeking to remove 31 out of 39 KMT lawmakers from the 113-seat legislature, in which the KMT and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) together hold a majority with 62 seats, while the DPP holds 51 seats. The scale of the recall elections was unprecedented, with another seven KMT lawmakers facing similar votes on Aug. 23. For a
RSS