Citizen Congress Watch (CCW) urged legislators to return their salaries to the state coffers yesterday, accusing them of taking too much time off as they prepared to take a week off ahead of next Saturday's presidential election.
"The newly elected lawmakers started their term 41 days ago, but so far they've only been at work for around 10 days," the group's executive director Ho Tsung-hsun (
What angered the CCW members more was that the lawmakers are taking the next week off to campaign for the presidential election, meaning there will be no more legislative meetings until March 25.
PHOTO: LO PEI-DER, TAIPEI TIMES
"What does the presidential election have to do with what a lawmaker is supposed to do?" he said.
"A lawmaker is paid NT$180,000 [US$6,000] each month, NT$6,000 per day on average," Ho said. "By the time the presidential election is over, we taxpayers will have paid them about NT$14 million [US$455,000] for nothing!"
The protesters also expressed their disappointment at the level of sincerity legislators and party leaders have shown on making reform within the legislature.
"[Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate] Ma Ying-jeou [
Ku Chung-hua (
"There are more than 30 KMT lawmakers who have not signed the promise -- including the four who were involved in the fracas at [Democratic Progressive Party presidential candidate] Frank Hsieh's [謝長廷] campaign office two days ago," Ku said, adding that such disruptive behavior will continue without proper legislative reform.
"We, the voters, should not allow the representatives that we elected to step out of line," he said.
Three Taiwanese airlines have prohibited passengers from packing Bluetooth earbuds and their charger cases in checked luggage. EVA Air and Uni Air said that Bluetooth earbuds and charger cases are categorized as portable electronic devices, which should be switched off if they are placed in checked luggage based on international aviation safety regulations. They must not be in standby or sleep mode. However, as charging would continue when earbuds are placed in the charger cases, which would contravene international aviation regulations, their cases must be carried as hand luggage, they said. Tigerair Taiwan said that earbud charger cases are equipped
Foreign travelers entering Taiwan on a short layover via Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport are receiving NT$600 gift vouchers from yesterday, the Tourism Administration said, adding that it hopes the incentive would boost tourism consumption at the airport. The program, which allows travelers holding non-Taiwan passports who enter the country during a layover of up to 24 hours to claim a voucher, aims to promote attractions at the airport, the agency said in a statement on Friday. To participate, travelers must sign up on the campaign Web site, the agency said. They can then present their passport and boarding pass for their connecting international
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The age requirement for commercial pilots and airline transport pilots is to be lowered by two years, to 18 and 21 years respectively, to expand the pool of pilots in accordance with international standards, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications announced today. The changes are part of amendments to articles 93, 119 and 121 of the Regulations Governing Licenses and Ratings for Airmen (航空人員檢定給證管理規則). The amendments take into account age requirements for aviation personnel certification in the Convention on International Civil Aviation and EU’s aviation safety regulations, as well as the practical needs of managing aviation personnel licensing, the ministry said. The ministry
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