PFP hopes to slash number of presidential advisers

PFP legislators yesterday criticized the manner in which the Pres-idential Office has appointed senior advisers and advisers, saying they would propose a revision to the relevant law to cut the number of such advisors to 30.

The legislators made the remarks in a press conference during which they presented a list of 150 senior advisers and advisers announced by the presidential office, saying that more than NT$295 million (US$8.57 million) has been spent on stipends awarded them between 2000 and this year.

Chin Huei-chu (秦慧珠), PFP party whip, said that the awarding of senior adviser and adviser posts has come to more and more favor the heads of conglomerates, Tai-wan independence advocates and grassroots campaign managers.

Chin noted that entrepreneurs Chang Jung-fa (張榮發), leader of the Evergreen Group; Shi Wen-long (許文龍), head of the Chi Mei Group (奇美集團); and Tsai Wan-lin (蔡萬霖), head of the Lin Yuan Group (霖園企業), have all served as senior advisers, although none have received a stipend. She also noted that senior adviser Koo Kuan-min (辜寬敏) and adviser Alice King (金美齡) have both strongly favored Taiwan independence and said that such appointments are worrisome.

Regarding the appointment of individuals who are grassroots campaign managers, Chin said that even the previous KMT administration would not dare put local faction leaders and figures on the adviser list and she questioned why President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) was doing exactly that.

Liu Wen-hsiung (劉文雄), another PFP legislator, asked how someone like Chin Mei-lin, who said she does not recognize the Republic of China, can be invited to serve as an ROC adviser.

Chin Huei-chu criticized the administration's method of choosing advisers as being devoid of respect for the law, pointing out that there are advisers who hold dual citizenship.

She also noted that several advisers serve concurrently in other posts, saying this is "unacceptable."

The examples she cited were Hwang Tzong-leh (黃宗樂), who is also the chairman of the Fair Trade Commission under the Executive Yuan, Cyrus Chin-yi Chu (朱敬一), who concurrently serves as the vice president of the Academia Sinica; and Fan Kuang-chun (范光群), who is also chairman of the Taiwan Provincial Government.

PFP Legislator Lu Hsueh-chang (呂學樟) said that he is to propose a revision of sections of the ROC Presidential Office Organization Law so that the number of senior advisers would not exceed 10 and the number of advisers would not exceed 20. The revision would also state that none of them would be entitled to a stipend.