While the investigative committee probing the March 19 assassination attempt is set to begin today, legislators across the political spectrum yesterday expressed concern over how it is going to operate smoothly amid the controversy still surrounding it.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (
"I'm very curious to see how it [the committee] is going to work because this piece of legislation is full of so many legal and constitutional flaws," Ker said. "We'll watch it very closely and carefully and express our opinions in an appropriate time and manner."
To better oversee the operation of the pan-blue-dominated committee, Ker said the caucus will set up a "constitutional interpretation response task force" today to tackle the issues.
Arguing that the statute which brought the committee into existence is unconstitutional and undermines the authority of judges and prosecutors, the DPP and its ally the Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) have opted to not participate in the 17-member committee, leaving seven positions on the committee unfilled.
The pan-green camp has also sought a constitutional interpretation from the Council of Grand Justices and filed a temporary injunction against the statute.
President Chen Shui-bian (
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and People First Party (PFP) have nominated nine members to the committee, while the Non-Partisan Solidarity Union has nominated one.
Tsai Huang-liang (
"I'm calling on the pan-blue camp to hold their horses before the grand justices rule on the constitutionality of the statute and the president approves the committee members, or they will pay a high price for their crude and foolish behavior," he said.
Tsai also threatened to ask the Executive Yuan to boycott the committee's operations, including its budget and investigation interviews, until the grand justices rules on the constitutionality of the committee.
Hoping to iron out differences over this issue as well as others such as his planned "state-of-the-nation" address, Chen has arranged to have lunch with the heads of the five branches of government on Thursday.
Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (
Should today's inter-party negotiations fail to bear fruit, Wang said, the issues will then proceed to the legislature's Procedure Committee to let the committee set the agenda. The Judicial Yuan has requested the DPP, TSU and opposition legislative caucuses designate their own representatives by tomorrow to attend the injunction debate slated for Oct. 14.
The DPP is set to name its representatives today during the first meeting of its constitutional interpretation response task force.
KMT caucus whip Tseng Yung-chuan (
PFP caucus whip Liu Wen-hsiung (
"We will make a decision on the matter [today], but now I don't see the point of participating," he said.
Regarding the "state-of-the-nation" report, debate has raged as to whether or not the president's request to address the Legislative Yuan and take questions from legislators after his speech is constitutional.
Some opposition legislators have also proposed an amendment to the legislature's internal rules to make the address official so the president can address the legislature on a regular basis, preferably at the beginning of each year.
The Taipei Department of Health yesterday said it has launched a probe into a restaurant at Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store after a customer died of suspected food poisoning. A preliminary investigation on Sunday found missing employee health status reports and unsanitary kitchen utensils at Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) in the department store’s basement food court, the department said. No direct relationship between the food poisoning death and the restaurant was established, as no food from the day of the incident was available for testing and no other customers had reported health complaints, it said, adding that the investigation is ongoing. Later
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