PFP Legislator Shen Chih-hwei (
"Our investigation and statistics were based on this year's budget for salaries at all government offices and state-run enterprises. The assembly has only 28 employees, but, believe it or not, the average annual income for them is NT$1,633,000 -- the second-highest among all government offices and state-run enterprises," Shen said at a press conference at the Legislative Yuan.
"I do not understand why they can still enjoy such fat salaries now that the assembly has been marginalized."
According to Shen's statistics, staff at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) enjoy the most generous salaries.
The average annual income for them is NT$2,787,000.
The Presidential Office ranked third with an average income of NT$1,446,000.
The Cabinet's Atomic Energy Council (原子能委員會) came in the fourth with an average income of NT$1,387,000, followed by Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信) at NT$1,298,000, Chinese Petroleum Corp (中油) at NT$1,231,000, the Ministry of Finance at NT$1,227,000, the National Science Council (國科會) at NT$1,224,000, the Taiwan Tobacco and Liquor Corp (台灣菸酒股份有限公司) at NT$1,223,000 and the Judicial Yuan at NT$1,220,000.
"For MOFA, the high salaries are understandable since many of its employees work overseas. For employees at state-run enterprises, their high salaries are also reasonable since those organizations earned good profits last year," Shen said. "However, for a 28-employee office, I really think it is not reasonable for them to enjoy this much money," Shen said.
Shen's remarks were dismissed by Assembly Secretary-General David Chen (
"She must understand that the current 28 employees are all management-level staff. Of course, their salaries are higher than normal. There is nothing illegal about it," he said.
The assembly passed a set of constitutional amendments to marginalize itself on April 24, 2000, transferring most of its powers to the Legislative Yuan.
When assembly delegates finished their final terms on May 19 of that year, their original function, which was to amend the Constitution and elect the president and vice president of the assembly, ceased.
On May 20 this year, the remaining 28 employees will be transferred to the Legislative Yuan.
When the assembly was reformed, the delegates attempted to allow the appointment of "mission-based" delegates -- whose term would be no longer than one month -- by an independent ballot.
Since May 19, 2000, two of the remaining functions of the assembly have been to vote on constitutional amendments and on proposed national boundary changes.
Proposals require a three-quarters majority in the assembly for ratification before the changes are written into the Constitution.
The other function of the assembly is to vote on any motion to impeach the president or vice president. Before reaching the assembly, the motion must have been initiated and passed by the legislature by a two-thirds majority.
The motion must win another two-thirds majority in the assembly to succeed.
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