A pan-green legislator was under fire yesterday after he used his position to engineer revenge on a low-ranking Customs official who wouldn't let the lawmaker bring more than the maximum allowable number of cigarettes into Taiwan.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairman Yu Shyi-kun yesterday called for his party's caucus to discipline Legislator Tu Wen-ching (杜文卿) after he used a legislative committee meeting to publicly humiliate the official who had offended him by adhering to the law.
During Thursday's Finance Committee meeting, Lin Chiu-tung (林秋東), a low-ranking customs officer, was required to attend at the request of a committee co-chair, DPP Legislator Yu Cheng-tao (余政道).
Yu asked for Lin to attend on the suggestion of Tu, who said he wanted to clarify a news report that said he had shouted filthy words at the Customs officer on Dec. 19 at the Customs desk in CKS airport, after Lin had seized 20 boxes of cigarettes -- said to be worth a mere NT$3,000 (US$92.46) -- from Tu when he and his friends had returned to Taiwan.
A person is allowed to bring 200 cigarettes (one carton) into Taiwan duty free, and may pay NT$3,240 to bring in four additional cartons, for a total of five cartons. Any cigarettes beyond that amount will be seized by the authorities.
Tu used a hearing on Customs to work himself into a paroxysm of juvenile rage -- complete with props -- and attacked the hapless Lin.
"Do you know who I am now? Did I bring any cigarettes? Did I bring any cigarettes in this handbag? Did I?" shouted Tu during the commitee meeting, gesticulating at a bag he asserted was the same he had had when he entered Taiwan on Dec. 19. Yelling at Lin incessantly, Tu pulled items -- including a pair of underpants -- out of the bag and waved them around in the air.
After this frenetic display, Tu -- who said he was a non-smoker -- said he had never shouted abuse at Lin, adding that the cigarettes didn't belong to him, but to his friends.
He then accused Lin and Customs Director-General Yu Shaw-wu (
Lin was visibly frightened by the legislator's vicious tantrum, and said he didn't see if Tu had cigarettes at the time. He said that he had merely directed Tu to a different counter to deal with the issue. He closed his remarks by saying "may god bless you" to the lawmaker.
Five other DPP legislators joined in the bloodsport, supporting Tu and taking turns blasting Yu, Lin and the Customs office as a whole.
But DPP Legislator Lin Chung-mo (
"Lin Chiu-tung didn't do anything wrong, and when he asked Tu and his friends to leave the [extra] cigarettes he was carrying out his duty. As a minor public servant, he is not supposed to be questioned in the legislature," Lin Chung-mo said.
Tu yesterday offered an apology to Lin Chiu-tung, saying "I felt sorry that [Lin] was pressured to be questioned in the legislative committee."
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislative caucus was far from satisfied by this peace offering, and asked Minister of Finance Joseph Lyu (
Three batches of banana sauce imported from the Philippines were intercepted at the border after they were found to contain the banned industrial dye Orange G, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday. From today through Sept. 2 next year, all seasoning sauces from the Philippines are to be subject to the FDA’s strictest border inspection, meaning 100 percent testing for illegal dyes before entry is allowed, it said in a statement. Orange G is an industrial coloring agent that is not permitted for food use in Taiwan or internationally, said Cheng Wei-chih (鄭維智), head of the FDA’s Northern Center for
The Chinese military has built landing bridge ships designed to expand its amphibious options for a potential assault on Taiwan, but their combat effectiveness is limited due to their high vulnerability, a defense expert said in an analysis published on Monday. Shen Ming-shih (沈明室), a research fellow at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said that the deployment of such vessels as part of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy’s East Sea Fleet signals a strong focus on Taiwan. However, the ships are highly vulnerable to precision strikes, which means they could be destroyed before they achieve their intended
About 4.2 million tourist arrivals were recorded in the first half of this year, a 10 percent increase from the same period last year, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. The growth continues to be consistent, with the fourth quarter of this year expected to be the peak in Taiwan, the agency said, adding that it plans to promote Taiwan overseas via partnerships and major events. From January to June, 9.14 million international departures were recorded from Taiwan, an 11 percent increase from the same period last year, with 3.3 million headed for Japan, 1.52 million for China and 832,962 to South Korea,
REWRITING HISTORY: China has been advocating a ‘correct’ interpretation of the victory over Japan that brings the CCP’s contributions to the forefront, an expert said An elderly Chinese war veteran’s shin still bears the mark of a bullet wound he sustained when fighting the Japanese as a teenager, a year before the end of World War II. Eighty years on, Li Jinshui’s scar remains as testimony to the bravery of Chinese troops in a conflict that killed millions of their people. However, the story behind China’s overthrow of the brutal Japanese occupation is deeply contested. Historians broadly agree that credit for victory lies primarily with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT)-led Republic of China (ROC) Army. Its leader, Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石), fled to Taiwan in 1949 after losing a
RSS