Prosecutors in Hualien yesterday complained that their superiors were paying too much attention to cracking down on bribery related to next month's Hualien County commissioner by-election.
"We Hualien prosecutors already know how to do our jobs. We do not need our superiors to show us how to accomplish our mission," said Yang Ta-chih (楊大智), a chief prosecutor at the Hualien District Prosecutors' Office.
Yang made the remark during a meeting to discuss the crackdown on election-related bribery which was chaired by Minster of the Interior Yu Chen-hsien (
"We do believe that local prosecutors know what they are doing and will successfully prevent bribery during the election," Chen said. "Honestly, today's meeting is more like a promotional event. We hope to warn potential vote-buyers not to do so by asking high-ranking law enforcement officials to meet here to show our concern and our determination to tackle vote-buying.
"Our experience and statistics showed us that bribery was not news in Hualien during past elections so we have to do this. It is like a constant reminder to vote-buyers," he said.
As part of the crackdown, Yu has also transferred 480 police officers from other counties to establish an anti-vote-buying task force.
Yang, however, said that local prosecutors and police officers have already reached a tacit agreement on how to investigate crimes.
The arrival of high-ranking law-enforcement officials and the transfer of more police officers also seemed to humiliate local prosecutors and police officers.
"It seems to me that we do not know how to do our jobs so our superiors need to ask somebody else to show us," Yang said.
Huang Yi-chun (
"They do not even know their way around downtown Hualien. How can they carry out their mission?" she said. "To transfer so many officers from other locations is a waste of manpower."
Yesterday's meeting was also attended by National Police Administration Commissioner Chang Si-liang (
Eight restaurants in Taiwan yesterday secured a one-star rating from the Michelin Guide Taiwan for the first time, while three one-star restaurants from last year’s edition were promoted to two stars. Forty-three restaurants were awarded one star this year, including 34 in Taipei, five in Taichung and four in Kaohsiung. Hosu (好嶼), Chuan Ya (川雅), Sushi Kajin (鮨嘉仁), aMaze (心宴), La Vie by Thomas Buhner, Yuan Yi (元一) and Frassi in Taipei and Front House (方蒔) in Kaohsiung received a one-star rating for the first time. Hosu is known for innovative Taiwanese dishes, while Chuan Ya serves Sichuan cuisine and aMaze specializes
Taitung County is to launch charter flights to Malaysia at the end of this year, after setting up flights to Vietnam and Thailand, the Taitung County Government said yesterday. The new charter flight services, provided by low-cost carrier Batik Air Malaysia, would be part of five-day tour packages for visits to Taitung County or Malaysia. The Batik Air charter flight, with about 200 seats, would take Malaysian tourists to Taitung on Dec. 30 and then at 12:35pm return to Kuala Lumpur with Taiwanese tourists. Another charter flight would bring the Taiwanese home on Jan. 3 next year, arriving at 5:30pm, before taking the
Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp. (THSRC) plans to ease strained capacity during peak hours by introducing new fare rules restricting passengers traveling without reserved seats in 2026, company Chairman Shih Che (史哲) said Wednesday. THSRC needs to tackle its capacity issue because there have been several occasions where passengers holding tickets with reserved seats did not make it onto their train in stations packed with individuals traveling without a reserved seat, Shih told reporters in a joint interview in Taipei. Non-reserved seats allow travelers maximum flexibility, but it has led to issues relating to quality of service and safety concerns, especially during
An exhibition celebrating Taiwan and Japan’s comic culture opened on Saturday in Taichung, featuring a section that explores Taiwanese reproductions of Japanese comics from when martial law limited Japanese representation. “A Century of Manga Culture: An Encounter of Taiwan and Japan’s Youth” held its Taiwan opening ceremony at Taichung’s National Taiwan Museum of Comics after an initial one-month run in Japan’s Kyoto International Manga Museum between May 24 and June 24. Much like the Kyoto exhibition, the show mainly celebrates the comic connection between Taiwan and Japan through late Taiwanese comic book
RSS