The Presidential Office is expected to start an internship program similar to that run by the White House to recruit young people to work with the president, according to local reports.
By adopting the program, the Presidential Office aims to organize a campaign team of young people to appeal to voters in their late teens and early 20s for President Chen Shui-bian's (
A total of 25 internships will be available under the program, with NT$45,000 per month in pay and benefits equivalent to those of civil servants.
The Presidential Office plans to raise the funds needed for the program from the business sector.
The internship idea was first raised by a group of youth representatives during a meeting with Chen in March. They suggested that the government recruit youth volunteers to serve local people or work for the government.
Thinking it a good idea, Chen assigned Presidential Office Secretary-general Chen Shih-meng (陳師孟) to study the proposal and plan for its implementation.
The Presidential Office originally intended to form a youth volunteer team and send the volunteers to serve in different localities, but it later gave up this plan in light of its complexity and decided to adopt the internship program instead.
Some Presidential Office staff yesterday indicated their anxiety over the new system, saying that they had no idea how they were going to deal with the incoming interns.
For example, they said, they did not know if they would need to give them access to confidential information, the secrecy of which they doubt the interns could maintain.
The program also received a mixed response from lawmakers yesterday.
Both DPP Legislator Chen Chin-de (
KMT legislator Huang Chao-shun (
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