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Post-Election 2008: Personnel changes frozen with election promulgation

"Starting [today], the government will freeze all personnel changes until the presidential inauguration on May 20."

Chang Chun-hsiung, premier

Premier Chang Chun-hsiung (張俊雄) yesterday defended the government's recent string of personnel changes, which the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) has criticized as a move to pack the government with pro-Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) officials before handing over power in May.

"Starting [today], the government will freeze all personnel changes until the presidential inauguration on May 20," Chang said at the weekly Cabinet meeting.

The freeze will not only affect the appointment and transfer of civil servants, but will also cover political appointees as well as chairmen and board directors of state-owned enterprises, he said.

The Central Election Commission is set to promulgate Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) of the KMT as the winner of Saturday's presidential election, which will officially mark the start of the DPP's caretaker government period.

"Any personnel changes made before March 28 are all legal," Executive Yuan Spokesman Shieh Jhy-wey (謝志偉) told a press conference following the meeting.

Chang approved a list of personnel changes for the country's overseas offices on Tuesday.

Among them was Yohani Isqaqavut -- from the Aboriginal Bunun tribe -- who was appointed as the country's representative to Fiji. The appointment makes him the first Aborigine to become a Taiwanese ambassador.

Yohani is a religious minister of the Taiwan Presbyterian Church and formerly a government minister of the Council of Indigenous Peoples under the Executive Yuan. He will fill the vacancy left since September when the last ambassador to Fiji, Kuo Shih-nan (郭時南), became the nation's representative to Singapore.

Presidential Office Spokesman David Lee (李南陽) was appointed as representative to Ireland. Director-General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' (MOFA) North American Affairs Department Leo Lee (李澄然) was designated as representative to St Vincent and the Grenadines.

Representative to New Zealand John Chen (陳忠) was transferred to St Tome and Principe. MOFA Chief Secretary Benjamin Liang (梁英斌) was appointed as representative to Vietnam.

Director-General of the ministry's East Asia and Pacific Affairs Department Donald Lee (李傳通) was designated as representative to the Philippines. Deputy Director of the Non-Government Organization Committee Jack Chiang (江國強) was named as representative to Norway.

Director-General of the ministry's Economic and Trade Affairs Bill Cho (卓士昭) was appointed as representative to Kuwait, and Director-General of the ministry's Protocol Department Liu Yi-min (劉宜民) was named as representative to Poland.

At a separate setting yesterday, KMT caucus whip Lin Yi-shih (林益世) reiterated the caucus' opposition to any personnel reshuffling by the Cabinet before May 20.

Lin told a press conference that all personnel reshuffling should not be made to protect a certain political party's interests but to ensure that people can live a happy life, adding that this is the KMT's goal after assuming office.

"We will demand all government agencies provide information [regarding the reshuffles], if necessary, to the legislature for investigation," he said.

He added that some KMT legislators had also proposed to the speaker the establishment of a special committee to probe the reshuffling, but he said the caucus still needed to evaluate the feasibility of the proposal.

Additional reporting by Flora Wang
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