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Ma taps former Chen adviser for Yuan chief

In a surprise move yesterday, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) nominated a former university president widely associated with the previous administration to head the Examination Yuan.

Ma tapped former National Chiao Tung University president Chang Chun-yen (張俊彥) to fill the post of the top official in charge of recruiting and managing the country’s civil servants.

Chang is closely connected with former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and once served as an adviser to Chen in the run-up to the 2000 presidential election.

Ma also nominated Wu Chin-lin (伍錦霖), a former deputy secretary-general of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), as vice president, along with 17 other members.

The tenure of the current Examination Yuan members will expire in August.

Ma chose the 19 nominees from 36 hopefuls, who were short-listed by a nomination task force that reviewed 170 recommendations and applications for the positions.

Vice President Vincent Siew (蕭萬長) was scheduled to hold a news conference later in the day to introduce the nominees.

The Presidential Office is also expected to announce its list of nominees for the Control Yuan — the country’s top supervisory body tasked with monitoring and arbitrating on matters concerning elected officials and senior civil servants.

The Control Yuan has been left empty since Jan. 31, 2005, as a result of the KMT’s refusal to review the previous president’s list of nominees.

Ma is scheduled to refer the nomination lists to the legislature on Monday for confirmation.

KMT Legislator Wu Ching-chih (吳清池) said yesterday that up to one-third of KMT legislators would rule out former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislator Lee Wen-chung (李文忠) if Ma nominates him for the Control Yuan.

Lee urged the president to “change his list of nominees if necessary,” adding that as far as he knew, at least one-third of KMT legislators opposed Lee’s nomination.

KMT Legislator Lu Chia-chen (盧嘉辰), who competed with Lee for a legislative seat in Taipei County earlier this year, said he was strongly against Lee’s nomination.

“[Lee] has no talent nor character ... I hope President Ma will take my comments into consideration,” he said.

Lu said he would “reluctantly” accept Lee if the president insisted on nominating him, but added that it might damage the trust between the administration and the legislature.

The KMT legislators voiced their opposition after a report in the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper) on Wednesday quoted former DPP legislator Tuan Yi-kang (段宜康) as saying that the KMT administration had invited Lee to be a member of the Control Yuan.

Former DPP legislator Shen Fu-hsiung (沈富雄) was also rumored to be on the list for vice president of the Control Yuan.

KMT Legislator Shuai Hua-ming (帥化民) said that it was meaningless for the president to nominate people from the pan-green camp simply because he wanted to keep a political balance.
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