Dozens of civic group members yesterday rallied outside the Taipei District Court as prosecutors questioned Citizen Congress Watch (CCW) executive director Ho Tsung-hsun (何宗勳) about a slander lawsuit filed by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Tsai Chin-lung (蔡錦隆).
“We condemn lawmakers who file lawsuits against watchdog groups. Instead, they should face public scrutiny with honesty,” National Union of Taiwan Women’s Associations chairwoman Chen Man-li (陳曼麗) told demonstrators outside the courthouse yesterday morning.
“We urge Tsai to withdraw the lawsuit. You may have ranked last [in CCW’s evaluation of lawmakers], but you won’t stay there if you work hard enough,” Chen said.
PHOTO: CNA
EVALUATION
The CCW held the first evaluation of lawmakers in August, in which more than 100 people including students, journalists, academics and representatives from civic groups assigned scores to lawmakers by reviewing their attendance, number of legislative proposals and misconduct.
Tsai filed a slander lawsuit against Ho and CCW chairman Ku Chung-hwa (顧忠華) after he was ranked last among legislators in the Internal Administration Committee. Tsai has accused the CCW of bias and said the evaluation was not transparent.
PRECEDENTS
This was not the first time Ho and Ku have been sued by lawmakers.
In July, the two were sued by KMT Legislator Chen Ken-te (陳根德) for slander, when the CCW made a mistake regarding Chen Ken-te’s attendance record because the legislature did not release information about a classified meeting he had attended.
They were not indicted.
In September, Chiu Yi (邱毅) sued Ho and Ku after being awarded the lowest ranking in the CCW’s evaluation. The CCW later established that a miscalculation had been made during the evaluation and apologized to Chiu, whereupon he withdrew the lawsuit.
Despite the lawsuits, the CCW and its supporters remain determined to monitor the legislature.
“In a legislature where one party has absolute majority, it’s hard to imagine what it would be like if there were no watchdog organizations such as the CCW. It reminds the lawmakers who their bosses are,” Buddhist Master Shih Chao-hui (釋昭慧) said yesterday, adding that the lawsuits were a waste of resources in the judiciary.
“Lawmakers who receive the lowest rankings should just step down,” she said.
Before walking into the courthouse, Ho told the crowd that Tsai had made many negative comments about the CCW.
“I think we should be the ones who are suing for defamation,” Ho said.
Despite the protest, Tsai declined to drop the lawsuit.
“The CCW’s evaluation and its neutrality are questionable. Therefore, I will not withdraw the lawsuit,” he said.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY FLORA WANG
US climber Alex Honnold is to attempt to scale Taipei 101 without a rope and harness in a live Netflix special on Jan. 24, the streaming platform announced on Wednesday. Accounting for the time difference, the two-hour broadcast of Honnold’s climb, called Skyscraper Live, is to air on Jan. 23 in the US, Netflix said in a statement. Honnold, 40, was the first person ever to free solo climb the 900m El Capitan rock formation in Yosemite National Park — a feat that was recorded and later made into the 2018 documentary film Free Solo. Netflix previewed Skyscraper Live in October, after videos
NUMBERS IMBALANCE: More than 4 million Taiwanese have visited China this year, while only about half a million Chinese have visited here Beijing has yet to respond to Taiwan’s requests for negotiation over matters related to the recovery of cross-strait tourism, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. Taiwan’s tourism authority issued the statement after Chinese-language daily the China Times reported yesterday that the government’s policy of banning group tours to China does not stop Taiwanese from visiting the country. As of October, more than 4.2 million had traveled to China this year, exceeding last year. Beijing estimated the number of Taiwanese tourists in China could reach 4.5 million this year. By contrast, only 500,000 Chinese tourists are expected in Taiwan, the report said. The report
Temperatures are forecast to drop steadily as a continental cold air mass moves across Taiwan, with some areas also likely to see heavy rainfall, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. From today through early tomorrow, a cold air mass would keep temperatures low across central and northern Taiwan, and the eastern half of Taiwan proper, with isolated brief showers forecast along Keelung’s north coast, Taipei and New Taipei City’s mountainous areas and eastern Taiwan, it said. Lows of 11°C to 15°C are forecast in central and northern Taiwan, Yilan County, and the outlying Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties, and 14°C to 17°C
STEERING FAILURE: The first boat of its class is experiencing teething issues as it readies for acceptance by the navy, according to a recent story about rudder failure The Hai Kun (海鯤), the nation’s first locally built submarine, allegedly suffered a total failure of stern hydraulic systems during the second round of sea acceptance trials on June 26, and sailors were forced to manually operate the X-rudder to turn the submarine and return to port, news Web site Mirror Daily reported yesterday. The report said that tugboats following the Hai Kun assisted the submarine in avoiding collisions with other ships due to the X-rudder malfunctioning. At the time of the report, the submarine had completed its trials and was scheduled to begin diving and surfacing tests in shallow areas. The X-rudder,
RSS