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Taiwan Quick Take

■ Military
Service length to be cut
The 16-month obligatory military service will be reduced to 14 months starting on July 1, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) announced yesterday. The ministry said it had coordinated with the Ministry of the Interior on the issue and would submit the proposal to the Cabinet for final approval. On whether the length of service would be reduced to 12 months next year, the MND said it would be contingent on manpower needs at the time. The MND said it could cut the length of obligatory military service again in the near future.

■ Education
Tuition hikes get go-ahead
The Ministry of Education yesterday announced that eight of the nation's universities would be given the green light to raise tuition fees by 3 percent. Soochow University, Shih Hsin University, Tamkang University, National Kaohsiung University of Applied Sciences, Southern Taiwan University of Technology, Hungkuang University, Chang Gung Institute of Technology and Nan Kai Institute of Technology will be allowed to increase their fees this academic year. The hikes will be within a 3 percent range, from NT$578 (US$18) to NT$1,630, depending on the school, the education ministry said in a press release. The ministry also announced that nine schools -- mostly small technology institutes and colleges -- must lower their tuition costs by 1 percent because of poor management and academic performance.

■ Politics
DPP probes cheat allegations
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) last night said it would investigate whether any legislative hopefuls had cheated during the legislative primaries. The announcement of the primary public poll results have been postponed until June 27, DPP Chairman Yu Shyi-kun said after a provisional Central Executive Committee meeting was convened to deal with the recent controversy over the fairness of the primaries. The dispute arose after the Chinese-language Next magazine alleged in a report on Wednesday that DPP Legislator Huang Chien-huei (黃劍輝) had leased 1,000 telephone lines to boost his chances of success in the poll. The magazine said 150 telephones had been set up in an apartment in Sanchong (三重), Taipei County, while the other 850 lines were directed to those 150 phones. The weekly said that Huang had staffers on standby in the apartment who had been told to support Huang if they were called by the pollsters. Huang denied the allegation.

■ Health
KMT tries to help doctors
In a non-binding resolution sponsored by 28 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers, the legislature on Tuesday resolved to ask the Department of Health to work out measures to help reduce the workload on resident doctors. KMT Legislator Lai Shyh-bao (賴士葆), the chief sponsor of the resolution, said resident doctors work between 100 hours and 120 hours per week compared to 80 hours per week for their US counterparts and 40 hours per week for office workers. Citing a survey conducted by his staff, Lai said local resident doctors have to stay in hospital for night duty every three days and have to work a full day shift after the night duty. These unusually long hours have a heavy impact on doctors' performance and constitute a risk for their patients, Lai said, citing a US survey that found doctors undertaking a 90-hour work week are 50 percent more likely to commit errors on the job.

■ Health
Bird flu changes category
The status of bird flu has been changed back to type-one infectious disease category, the Department of Health said yesterday. The department said the possibility of a global epidemic with huge economic and social impact makes bird flu as dangerous as other type-one diseases. The disease will also now be officially referred to as the "H5N1 influenza" rather than "new type epidemic influenza" to conform with international terminology, it said in a press release. Other terminology related to the disease has also been changed in line with WHO definitions, such as "patient under investigation," "suspected case" and "probable case." The application of these definitions will help international epidemiological studies in the event of an outbreak, it said.

■ Crime
Ex-chairman sentenced
The Taiwan High Court yesterday ruled against former Chiayi Farmers' Association chairman Hsiao Teng-shih (蕭登獅) and gave him 14 months behind bars for bribing voters in the 2001 legislative election. The high court's verdict said that Hsiao, whose constituency was in Chiayi City, asked 51 of his vote captains and staff members at his campaign office to re-register their households in Chiayi from Taipei City. Hsiao then treated them to free tours of Chiayi as compensation. The Taipei District Court gave Hsiao a two-year sentence on June 29, 2005, but Hsiao immediately appealed. Hsiao can still appeal yesterday's ruling within 10 days upon receiving the verdict. Hsiao is from a politically well-connected family, known as the Hsiao Family Clan (蕭家班). The clan used to be the Chinese Nationalist Party's (KMT) biggest vote captains in the Chiayi area.


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