The appointment of Chen Chi-mai (
President Chen Shui-bian (
This was the president's second wave of key appointments this week. Chiou I-jen (邱義仁), secretary-general of the National Security Council, and Mark Chen (陳唐山), secretary general of the Presidential Office, swapped positions earlier this week.
The DPP legislative caucus said Chen Chi-mai was a "very appropriate" choice for the post.
Ker Chien-ming (
For his part, Chen Chi-mai vowed to serve with humility, saying he would do his utmost to assist President Chen in cross-strait and diplomatic affairs.
However, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and its ally the People First Party (PFP) questioned the president's motive in appointing Chen Chi-mai, a protege of the president and a rising star until a Thai labor riot in 2005 brought an abrupt stop to his otherwise smooth political career.
Chen Chi-mai stepped down as acting Kaohsiung mayor to take responsibility for a riot in August 2005 by Thai laborers working on the city's mass rapid transit system (MRT) to protest their harsh treatment and inhumane management.
Subsequent investigations into the riot uncovered a series of irregularities in the MRT project involving Chen Che-nan (陳哲男), former deputy secretary-general of the Presidential Office and the father of Chen Chi-mai.
Hsu Shao-ping (徐少萍), KMT legislator and caucus whip, said Chen Che-nan was indicted for influence peddling and as a result the public has a poor impression of Chen Che-nan and his son.
"The president has a total disregard for public sentiment and is only thinking of his own protege," she said.
KMT Legislator Alex Fai (費鴻泰) said that the president's latest wave of personnel appointments was a signal that Chen was afraid of being perceived as a "lame duck" before his second term expires in May next year.
Lai said that the president had invited his protege to help him with preparing for two major elections ahead -- the year-end legislative elections and the presidential election in March next year -- to prove that he was still in command.
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Credit departments of farmers’ and fishers’ associations blocked a total of more than NT$180 million (US$6.01 million) from being lost to scams last year, National Police Agency (NPA) data showed. The Agricultural Finance Agency (AFA) said last week that staff of farmers’ and fishers’ associations’ credit departments are required to implement fraud prevention measures when they serve clients at the counter. They would ask clients about personal financial management activities whenever they suspect there might be a fraud situation, and would immediately report the incident to local authorities, which would send police officers to the site to help, it said. NPA data showed
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