President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) yesterday attended the graduation ceremony of the 38th Investigators' Boot Camp at the Bureau of In-vestigation's training center in Hsintien, Taipei County.
Chen became the first Taiwan-ese president to attend the graduation ceremony, symbolizing his promise to get tough on "black gold" politics.
The Ministry of Justice's Bureau of Investigation opens a limited number of investigator positions to the public annually. Those who are interested have to register for an exam.
"Usually, there are 60 to 80 positions every year," said a senior bureau official who wished to remain anonymous.
"The exam includes written, oral and physical testing of Chinese and English language skills, professional skills and knowledge of different fields according to the candidates' fields of expertise," the official said.
It also tests the candidates' fitness in the disciplines of swimming, running and jogging. For the physical part of the tests the candidates must finish assigned items within limited periods of time."
Chen said that Taiwan faces many challenges because of its democratic and economic reforms.
Among these challenges are the need to maintain social security and to cleanse the country of "black-gold" politics. These will be the main priorities of the new investigators.
"When I took office I said that my main aim is to rid the country of `black-gold' politics and vote-buying," Chen said. "As far as we could see during our legislative and local elections last year, the investigators put a lot of work into this effort. Their successes were very encouraging."
Chen also reminded investigators to be careful with certain procedures when they enforced the law in the future.
"An investigator has certain rules to follow," he said. "No matter what you do, make sure that you are following the manuals and regulations. Also, as a national investigator, it is very important to stay neutral when it comes to politics."
He encouraged the new investigators to continuously update their different professional skills and knowledge levels.
"It's never too late to learn," he said. "An investigator's job includes many aspects and it's quite challenging. I do hope our investigators can realize that they need to keep learning every day to keep up with the modern world because that is one of the requirements of this job."
"We have more than 2,200 employees at the Bureau of Investigation," he added. "It is my sincere hope that everybody at the bureau can keep up the good work because this will be vital. The bureau belongs to the country and the people."
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