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KMT questions Yuan nominee

With the legislature scheduled to vote on President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) nominees for Examination Yuan and Control Yuan members this Friday, several Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators yesterday expressed skepticism over the credentials of Examination Yuan president nominee Chang Chun-yen (張俊彥).

When approached for comment outside the first congressional public hearing on the lists, KMT Legislator Ting Shou-chung (丁守中) said his KMT colleagues had reservations about Chang’s nomination.

“We should reject the candidates that are undesirable,” Ting said, without specifying whether he was talking about Chang.

KMT Legislator Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) said it would be “difficult” for her to vote for Chang given his “performance” during his visit to the legislature last Thursday.

Hung was referring to an encounter she had with Chang, a former president of National Chiao Tung University, where Hung questioned Chang’s political affiliation while Chang told her that “enemies often cross each other’s path.”

KMT Legislator Wu Yu-sheng (吳育昇) said “those who did not demonstrate a high enough emotional quotient when talking to others” might have difficulty being approved by the legislature.

REVIEW

The legislature is expected to hold extraordinary plenary sessions between today and Thursday to review the lists before the nomination is put to a vote on Friday.

Ma surprised many by nominating Chang, who is close to former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁).

PAN-GREENS

He also included many pan-green figures, such as former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislator Shen Fu-hsiung (沈富雄) and former Taiwan Solidarity Union legislator Chien Lin Whei-jun (錢林慧君), as nominees for the Control Yuan.

The Control Yuan — the nation’s top supervisory body tasked with monitoring and arbitrating matters concerning public officials — has been left empty since Jan. 31, 2005, as a result of the KMT’s refusal to review the former president’s nominees.

DOUBTS

In addition to Chang Chun-yen, KMT Legislator Chang Hsien-yao (張顯耀) also doubted the appropriateness of Chien Lin as a Control Yuan member, adding that he would like to question Chien Lin, who was once a member of the former Cabinet’s Referendum Review Committee, regarding whether she still believed it was legitimate to hold referendums simultaneously with elections.

KMT Legislator Chiu Yi (邱毅) said he found the nomination of Shen, Chien Lin and Chang Chun-yen problematic.

Ting said the KMT caucus had reached a consensus to support “good candidates,” while respecting KMT legislators’ decisions regarding “controversial nominees.”

QUESTIONNAIRE

Meanwhile, the DPP legislative caucus yesterday offered a questionnaire for Control Yuan nominees.

DPP Legislator Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲) told a press conference at the legislature that the nominees would be questioned on whether or not they are loyal to the country, have any preference for any political party, have any conflict of interests that could affect their position, have dual citizenship and whether they have records supporting the protection of human rights.

She said the questionnaire would be given to the nominees, and that she hoped all of them would fill it in and return it.

DPP Legislator Wong Chin-chu (翁金珠) said Ma’s nominations for Control Yuan posts were a political trade-off.

She said nominees Chao Chang-ping (趙昌平) and Chao Jung-yao (趙榮耀), both two-time Control Yuan members, were inappropriate nominations this time around.

She also accused Ma of favoring the New Party.

Nominees Chou Yan-shan (周陽山), Yang Mei-ling (楊美玲), Lee Ping-nan (李炳南) and even the Control Yuan president-designate — former finance minister Wang Chien-shien — are all New Party members, she said.
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