The Judicial Reform Foundation yesterday said that lawmakers have been "unprofessional" when they were reviewing and interviewing candidates for the Council of Grand Justices.
"I am very sorry to say that they have talked too much about politics instead of asking relevant questions about law, the Constitution and legal issues when they were interviewing the candidates," said Shirley Lin (
Lin also complained that some of the lawmakers took advantage of speaking during the legislative meeting to say things that were not related to what they were supposed to do -- to review the candidates' resumes and ask them questions about legal matters.
"I must say, most of the questions they asked were not professional and made the candidates look like fools during the meeting," Lin said.
"Most lawmakers were talking about their own policies or their views of the judicial system. The candidates should have been the focus and not the lawmakers' policies or opinions."
Lawyer Lee Yuan-teh (
"The main purpose of reviewing their resumes and interviewing them in person is to get to know the candidates' attitudes, reactions and opinions through questions concerning the Constitution, because their future work will be to interpret the Constitution. But I did not see this happen during the past few days," Lee said.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Lawmaker Wei Ming-ku's (
In the meantime, People First Party (PFP) Lawmaker Shen Chih-hui (沈智慧) asked the nominees 40 questions with yes or no answers, which, according to the foundation, humiliated the future grand justices because the questions were extremely easy.
However, the foundation also mentioned that the questions asked by three lawmak-ers, DPP Lawmakers Lin Chin-hsing (
"Obviously, they have done their homework before the meeting," Lin said. "Their questions were to the point and relevant."
Both Lin and Lee encouraged lawmakers to do more research before they speak on Monday, which will be the last day of the review and interview process.
After concluding the process, the final approval of the candidates will be carried out on Sept. 16.
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it
Taiwan's Gold Apollo Co (金阿波羅通信) said today that the pagers used in detonations in Lebanon the day before were not made by it, but by a company called BAC which has a license to use its brand. At least nine people were killed and nearly 3,000 wounded when pagers used by Hezbollah members detonated simultaneously across Lebanon yesterday. Images of destroyed pagers analyzed by Reuters showed a format and stickers on the back that were consistent with pagers made by Gold Apollo. A senior Lebanese security source told Reuters that Hezbollah had ordered 5,000 pagers from Taiwan-based Gold Apollo. "The product was not
COLD FACTS: ‘Snow skin’ mooncakes, made with a glutinous rice skin and kept at a low temperature, have relatively few calories compared with other mooncakes Traditional mooncakes are a typical treat for many Taiwanese in the lead-up to the Mid-Autumn Festival, but a Taipei-based dietitian has urged people not to eat more than one per day and not to have them every day due to their high fat and calorie content. As mooncakes contain a lot of oil and sugar, they can have negative health effects on older people and those with diabetes, said Lai Yu-han (賴俞含), a dietitian at Taipei Hospital of the Ministry of Health and Welfare. “The maximum you can have is one mooncake a day, and do not eat them every day,” Lai