A lawmaker will no longer refer to himself as "bitch brother," but he says he's not happy about it.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Tsai Chi-fang (
Tsai had previously sworn that the public could call him biao ge (
Tsai said the embarassment had occurred because he "made a mistake in his understanding of the matter."
Tsai said last Wednesday that he would change his last name back to Tsai if the long-stalled arms procurement bill and confirmation of President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) nomination of Control Yuan members failed to pass the Procedure Committee within one week -- hardly a gamble, given the pan-blue alliance's dogged opposition to the bills.
The pan-blue dominated Procedure Committee yesterday voted 19 to 12 in favor of KMT caucus whip John Wu's (
Before the proposal was put to a vote, Tsai, who is not a member of the committee, expressed the wish to speak to the committee but was rejected by pan-blue comittee members, saying that it was not necessary.
Tsai went on to speak without the microphone anyway, calling on pan-blue committee members to grant him his wish to continue using the last name "Biao." His colleague, DPP Legislator Kuan Pi-ling (
The committee also voted 19 to 13 in favor of a proposal filed by KMT Legislator Justin Chou (
The bill is designed to compel the KMT to return its improperly acquired party assets.
Bills that passed the committee and will be discussed on the plenary legislative session of Nov. 22 include amendments to the Law Governing Legislators' Exercise of Power (立法院職權行使法) and three different versions of the Statute Governing Preferential Treatment to Retired Presidents and Vice Presidents (卸任總統副總統禮遇條例). Most of them had been proposed by the pan-blue alliance.
Regarding Control Yuan nominees, the president yesterday urged the Legislative Yuan to screen the list as soon as possible to uphold the constitutional system and the rights of the people.
"It's a pity that they had not looked at the list at all. Legislators should have dealt with the case rationally," Chen said when receiving a group of scholars invited by Tamkang University for an international seminar.
Additional reporting by Chiu Yu-tzu
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