Two Aboriginal legislators questioned the integrity of Control Yuan nominee Hsu Ping-chin (�?i) yesterday during the legislature’s final question-and-answer session ahead of the vote on President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) nominees for the yuan.
Hsu is the only Aborigine on list of Control Yuan nominees.
Non-Partisan Solidarity Union Legislator May Chin (高金素梅) said she had received a complaint that Hsu had allegedly sexually harassed students when he taught at National Ilan University.
Chin, who is an Atayal like Hsu, said that Hsu had been forced to retire in 2003 because of the alleged harassment. She said she received the information from a friend of Hsu’s wife, but could not reveal the identity of her source. She urged Ma to investigate the allegation.
Another female lawmaker, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Ying (陳瑩), joined Chin in making the accusation.
Hsu defended himself, swearing on his life that he was innocent.
“I would die in a car accident if I had really done it,” he said.
Hsu later tried to explain himself to Chen after the question-and-answer session ended.
DPP Legislator Yeh Yi-ching (葉宜津) criticized Hsu as biased and unfit to be a Control Yuan member. Citing the biography of Hsu provided to the legislature, Yeh questioned Hsu’s ability to transcend party lines to supervise public officials.
“[I] became the nation’s first Aboriginal doctor of law researching the Three Principles of the People after having constantly pursued advanced study of Sun Yat-sen’s (孫中山) ideas,” Yeh quoted Hsu as saying his biographical sketch.
Chin said Hsu was an Atayal who knew nothing about the difficulties of Aborigines but only how to fawn on the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT).
Hsu told legislators that he would transcend party lines even though he believed in Sun’s ideas.
The fate of the 29 Control Yuan nominees has been the subject of speculation from media outlets, given the sparks between some of the nominees and legislators during the extraordinary interpellation sessions over the past three days.
Some KMT legislators have threatened to vote down nominees such as former DPP legislator Shen Fu-hsiung (沈富雄), who was named vice president of the yuan, and former Taiwan Solidarity Union legislator Chien Lin Hui-chun (錢林慧君) and Chen Yao-chang (陳耀昌), a former deputy director of the “red shirt” campaign to oust former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁).
Asked for a comment, KMT caucus secretary-general Chang Sho-wen (張碩文) said he would prefer it if KMT headquarters would allow its legislators to make their own decisions on the nominees.
TRAFFIC SAFETY RULES: A positive result in a drug test would result in a two-year license suspension for the driver and vehicle, and a fine of up to NT$180,000 The Ministry of Transportation and Communications is to authorize police to conduct roadside saliva tests by the end of the year to deter people from driving while under the influence of narcotics, it said yesterday. The ministry last month unveiled a draft of amended regulations governing traffic safety rules and penalties, which included provisions empowering police to conduct mandatory saliva tests on drivers. While currently rules authorize police to use oral fluid testing kits for signs of drug use, they do not establish penalties for noncompliance or operating procedures for officers to follow, the ministry said. The proposed changes to the regulations require
The Executive Yuan yesterday announced that registration for a one-time universal NT$10,000 cash handout to help people in Taiwan survive US tariffs and inflation would start on Nov. 5, with payouts available as early as Nov. 12. Who is eligible for the handout? Registered Taiwanese nationals are eligible, including those born in Taiwan before April 30 next year with a birth certificate. Non-registered nationals with residence permits, foreign permanent residents and foreign spouses of Taiwanese citizens with residence permits also qualify for the handouts. For people who meet the eligibility requirements, but passed away between yesterday and April 30 next year, surviving family members
Taiwanese officials are courting podcasters and influencers aligned with US President Donald Trump as they grow more worried the US leader could undermine Taiwanese interests in talks with China, people familiar with the matter said. Trump has said Taiwan would likely be on the agenda when he is expected to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) next week in a bid to resolve persistent trade tensions. China has asked the White House to officially declare it “opposes” Taiwanese independence, Bloomberg reported last month, a concession that would mark a major diplomatic win for Beijing. President William Lai (賴清德) and his top officials
The German city of Hamburg on Oct. 14 named a bridge “Kaohsiung-Brucke” after the Taiwanese city of Kaohsiung. The footbridge, formerly known as F566, is to the east of the Speicherstadt, the world’s largest warehouse district, and connects the Dar-es-Salaam-Platz to the Brooktorpromenade near the Port of Hamburg on the Elbe River. Timo Fischer, a Free Democratic Party member of the Hamburg-Mitte District Assembly, in May last year proposed the name change with support from members of the Social Democratic Party and the Christian Democratic Union. Kaohsiung and Hamburg in 1999 inked a sister city agreement, but despite more than a quarter-century of
RSS