Several Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators yesterday questioned the impartiality of a legislative watchdog after the organization gave them the worst reviews among all legislators from the organization.
KMT Legislator Tsai Chin-lung (蔡錦隆), who ranked bottom among members of the Home and Nations Committee in a review by Citizen Congress Watch (CCW), expressed doubts about the evaluation criteria.
“I was voted the worst [in the committee] only because I did not sign a CCW agreement [to push sunshine bills],” he said.
PHOTO: CNA
KMT Legislator Tsao Erh-chang (曹爾忠), who was considered by the CCW to have the worst performance among Transportation Committee members, accused the organization of disregarding his explanation on several occasions that his attendance record was seriously affected by the poor weather of Matsu.
KMT Legislator Chiu Yi (邱毅), who ranked lowest among members of the Judiciary and Organic Law and Statutes Committee, said the CCW was politically biased.
“This organization is pro-green. It is trying to protect [former president] Chen [Shui-bian (陳水扁)]. Of course it dislikes me,” Chiu said when asked for comment.
Chiu later filed a defamation lawsuit against CCW chairman Ku Chung-hwa (顧忠華) and board member Chen Ming-li (陳明理), saying that they “failed to rationally and reasonably supervise [the legislature],” but criticized “elected representatives who do not share their political views.”
The CCW publicized its evaluation of legislators on Sunday after some 100 evaluators, including academics, journalists, representatives from non-governmental organizations, businesspeople and students assessed lawmakers in accordance with their attendance record, how often they spoke at legislative meetings or whether they had signed an agreement to improve legislative transparency.
Seven KMT legislators, including Tsai, Tsao, Chiu, Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱), Fu Kun-chi (傅崑萁), Chang Chia-chun (張嘉郡) and Hsu Shao-ping (徐少萍) and Non-Partisan Solidarity Union Legislator Lin Ping-kun (林炳坤) were considered to have been the worst performers.
None of the 27 Democratic Progressive Party legislators was ranked lower.
KMT caucus secretary-general Chang Sho-wen (張碩文) condemned the CCW, saying KMT lawmakers who received poor reviews had performed well in terms of their bills, budget reviews and service to voters in their electoral districts.
The CCW held a press conference yesterday afternoon in response to the criticism.
While apologizing to Chiu for failing to include his endorsement of the legislative transparency agreement when tallying Chiu’s score, which meant Chiu should have ranked ninth in the Judiciary and Organic Law and Statutes Committee, CCW secretary-general Ho Tsung-hsun (何宗勳) defended the standards adopted in making the evaluation.
Ho said review criteria came from many sources, such as official statistics on the legislature’s Web site, media reports and data provided by lawmakers.
A reviewer who wished to remain anonymous rebutted Chiu’s claim that the CCW was trying to protect the former president.
“We started collecting data for the review several months ago ... before Chen [Shui-bian] was suspected of money laundering,” he said.
AGING: While Japan has 22 submarines, Taiwan only operates four, two of which were commissioned by the US in 1945 and 1946, and transferred to Taiwan in 1973 Taiwan would need at least 12 submarines to reach modern fleet capabilities, CSBC Corp, Taiwan chairman Chen Cheng-hung (陳政宏) said in an interview broadcast on Friday, citing a US assessment. CSBC is testing the nation’s first indigenous defense submarine, the Hai Kun (海鯤, Narwhal), which is scheduled to be delivered to the navy next month or in July. The Hai Kun has completed torpedo-firing tests and is scheduled to undergo overnight sea trials, Chen said on an SET TV military affairs program. Taiwan would require at least 12 submarines to establish a modern submarine force after assessing the nation’s operational environment and defense
A white king snake that frightened passengers and caused a stir on a Taipei MRT train on Friday evening has been claimed by its owner, who would be fined, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday. A person on Threads posted that he thought he was lucky to find an empty row of seats on Friday after boarding a train on the Bannan (Blue) Line, only to spot a white snake with black stripes after sitting down. Startled, he jumped up, he wrote, describing the encounter as “terrifying.” “Taipei’s rat control plan: Release snakes on the metro,” one person wrote in reply, referring
The coast guard today said that it had disrupted "illegal" operations by a Chinese research ship in waters close to the nation and driven it away, part of what Taipei sees a provocative pattern of China's stepped up maritime activities. The coast guard said that it on Thursday last week detected the Chinese ship Tongji (同濟號), which was commissioned only last year, 29 nautical miles (54km) southeast of the southern tip of Taiwan, although just outside restricted waters. The ship was observed lowering ropes into the water, suspected to be the deployment of scientific instruments for "illegal" survey operations, and the coast
Yangmingshan National Park authorities yesterday urged visitors to respect public spaces and obey the law after a couple was caught on a camera livestream having sex at the park’s Qingtiangang (擎天崗) earlier in the day. The Shilin Police Precinct in Taipei said it has identified a suspect and his vehicle registration number, and would summon him for questioning. The case would be handled in accordance with public indecency charges, it added. The couple entered the park at about 11pm on Thursday and began fooling around by 1am yesterday, the police said, adding that the two were unaware of the park’s all-day live
RSS