Newly elected DPP legislators expressed their opposition to the party's seniority system in the Legislative Yuan yesterday, but the senior caucus members said they will keep trying to convince the dissenters of the system's merits.
The ruling DPP yesterday held a workshop for its newly elected legislators to help them understand the function of the party's caucus in the Legislative Yuan.
The caucus members explained their new seniority system at the gathering, but newly elected legislators said they opposed the rules.
"Incumbent legislators just want to protect their rights with this seniority system.
"The party's regulations say that every individual party member has equal rights. Allowing senior legislators to choose the committees they want to join before we can, violates the [party's] constitution," said newly elected DPP legislator Chiu Zang (邱彰).
The introduction of the seniority system is a first step in the party's reorganization. Under the system only legislators who have been elected three times can run for key caucus positions. It also states that senior legislators have priority in joining legislative committees.
The regulation, however, is considered a limitation to the potential performance of newly elected lawmakers.
The lawmakers are battling over posts available in the Legislative Yuan's 12 committees. Each committee deliberates bills submitted by the Legislative Yuan and discusses public petitions. Since each committee has a maximum of 21 members, legislators try to get committee positions at the beginning of each session.
"The [seniority] principle was set up by the DPP members of the Fourth Legislative Yuan. We hope that, as members of the Fifth Legislative Yuan, we can make our own decision, based on our own principles," said newly elected DPP legislator Liu Shih-fang (
Responding to the arguments of newly elected legislators, the party's senior lawmakers and caucus leaders said that they will try to sell their freshmen counterparts on the seniority system.
"Every newly elected legislator has the same attitude. They always want to fight for more chances to get recognized. They think that they are the same as re-elected legislators," said DPP caucus leader Lin Feng-hsi (林豐喜).
Lin Cho-shui (林濁水), a senior DPP legislator who has actively promoted the seniority system, explained that implementing the system would bring order to a chaotic legislature and help unite the DPP's caucus.
"Without implementing the system, every individual legislator has a chance to show off. But the legislature wouldn't be as united, or powerful enough to take on other government departments," Lin said.
Tsai Huang-liang (蔡煌瑯), chief executive of the DPP legislative caucus, said that, "reform is difficult, but communication is very important."
Tsai added that the caucus will hold a meeting today aimed at finding a solution to the dispute.
The US government has signed defense cooperation agreements with Japan and the Philippines to boost the deterrence capabilities of countries in the first island chain, a report by the National Security Bureau (NSB) showed. The main countries on the first island chain include the two nations and Taiwan. The bureau is to present the report at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee tomorrow. The US military has deployed Typhon missile systems to Japan’s Yamaguchi Prefecture and Zambales province in the Philippines during their joint military exercises. It has also installed NMESIS anti-ship systems in Japan’s Okinawa
‘WIN-WIN’: The Philippines, and central and eastern European countries are important potential drone cooperation partners, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung said Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) in an interview published yesterday confirmed that there are joint ventures between Taiwan and Poland in the drone industry. Lin made the remark in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper). The government-backed Taiwan Excellence Drone International Business Opportunities Alliance and the Polish Chamber of Unmanned Systems on Wednesday last week signed a memorandum of understanding in Poland to develop a “non-China” supply chain for drones and work together on key technologies. Asked if Taiwan prioritized Poland among central and eastern European countries in drone collaboration, Lin
TRAGEDY STRIKES TAIPEI: The suspect died after falling off a building after he threw smoke grenades into Taipei Main Station and went on a killing spree in Zhongshan A 27-year-old suspect allegedly threw smoke grenades in Taipei Main Station and then proceeded to Zhongshan MRT Station in a random killing spree that resulted in the death of the suspect and two other civilians, and seven injured, including one in critical condition, as of press time last night. The suspect, identified as a man surnamed Chang Wen (張文), allegedly began the attack at Taipei Main Station, the Taipei Fire Department said, adding that it received a report at 5:24pm that smoke grenades had been thrown in the station. One man in his 50s was rushed to hospital after a cardiac arrest
ON ALERT: Taiwan’s partners would issue warnings if China attempted to use Interpol to target Taiwanese, and the global body has mechanisms to prevent it, an official said China has stationed two to four people specializing in Taiwan affairs at its embassies in several democratic countries to monitor and harass Taiwanese, actions that the host nations would not tolerate, National Security Bureau (NSB) Director-General Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥) said yesterday. Tsai made the comments at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, which asked him and Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) to report on potential conflicts in the Taiwan Strait and military preparedness. Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) expressed concern that Beijing has posted personnel from China’s Taiwan Affairs Office to its
RSS