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Smooth sailing for NCC nominees

National Communications Commission nominees wait for questions at the legislature in Taipei yesterday. PHOTO: CNA

National Communications Commission (NCC) nominees had a rather smooth ride when their qualifications were reviewed at the Legislative Yuan yesterday.

The review session began at about 10am and ended at 1:30pm. The Joint Committee of Education, Culture and Transportation eventually passed the nominations, which will be put to a vote at the legislature on Friday.

Unlike their nine predecessors, who had to go through a 70-minute interview with a panel comprising 11 specialists representing different parties before they could even be considered, the seven nominees only faced seven minutes of questioning from each legislator.

Easier still, the nominees were not even required to answer questions unless the lawmakers specifically demanded it.

Though some lawmakers complained they did not have enough time to thoroughly examine each nominee, they still managed to raise some questions and put the nominees on the spot.

As expected, many lawmakers raised questions about the qualifications of nominee Liu Chorng-jian (劉崇堅).

Until last month, Liu was secretary-general of the Taiwan Telecommunication Industry Development Association (TTIDA), which was formed by the nation’s major telecom service operators.

He also represented the association in attending all the NCC hearings on draft telecommunications laws. Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lee Hung-chun (李鴻鈞) said that because of his connections within the telecommunications industry, Liu could become both a player and the referee once selected as an NCC commissioner.

Another lawmaker, the KMT’s Yang Chiung-ying (楊瓊櫻), also asked if Liu was a “spy” sent by telecoms operators to report on the workings of the NCC.

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Ting-fei (陳亭妃) questioned Liu about the health risks posed by electromagnetic waves emitted by wireless base stations.

Referring to a transcript of a speech given by Liu on this topic, Chen said whatever Liu had said was meant to defend corporations.

Liu said he was not a spy and that he did not speak solely for corporations.

Rather than seeing his experience at TTIDA as a flaw, Liu said his understanding and research on the telecommunications industry would help shed new light on telecommunications policies.

KMT Legislator Kuo Su-chun (郭素春), on the other hand, asked the nominees if they harbored thoughts about becoming NCC chairperson.

The commission rules by consensus. To choose a chair, commissioners must decide among themselves who they perceive as the best person for the position.

While the renominated Hsieh Chin-nan (謝進男) and five others denied — implicitly or explicitly — they had any intention of becoming NCC chair, journalism professor Bonnie Peng (彭芸) said “she was willing to consider” the possibility.

DPP legislators Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲) and Yeh Yi-ching (葉宜津) questioned the nominees based on the results of a questionnaire they had asked the nominees to complete.

Peng and Weng Hsiao-ling (翁曉玲) were identified as the least cooperative in the legislative review, refusing to answer as much as 70 percent of the questions on the list.

None of them wanted to comment on whether Soochow University had the right to restrict its faculty members from attending political talk shows, whether political parties, the government or the military has completely withdrawn from the media sector and whether they would investigate possible Chinese investment in the local media.

“The results showed that Peng is not qualified to be NCC chairwoman. In fact, she is not even qualified to become a NCC commissioner,” Yeh said.

KMT Legislator Yang Li-huan (楊麗環) asked the nominees the number of hours they spend watching TV. Most said between 30 minutes and two hours, but Peng said she watched seven to eight hours of TV every day.

“It’s part of my job,” she said.

While Kuan and KMT Legislator Alex Fai (費鴻泰) tried to raise the issue of the nominees’ party affiliations, their bark was worse than their bite.

Some potential hardball questions, such as how they stood on certain telecommunications policies, never surfaced.

Although they did not seem to know what their role would be as commissioners, some said they would be prompt in returning calls from the media.

“I know what reporters need,” professor Chi-hui Chung (鍾起惠) said. “It is the government’s obligation to communicate to the public via the media.”
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