President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday instructed the Executive Yuan to fully cooperate with the Special Investigation Panel (SIP) in the investigation of the “319” assassination attempt.
Presidential Office Spokesman Wang Yu-chi (王郁琦) said Ma made the request during a weekly luncheon with Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄), Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Wu Poh-hsiung (吳伯雄) at the Presidential Office.
Wang said that when the Democratic Progressive Party was in power, the Executive Yuan refused to cooperate with the truth investigation committee. As the SIP has reopened the case, Wang said, Ma hoped the executive branch would inject money and manpower and offer any necessary assistance.
The 319 shooting incident refers to an assassination attempt against former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and vice president Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) in Tainan on March 19, 2004, one day before the presidential election.
One bullet grazed Chen’s stomach and another hit Lu in the knee. Authorities later identified the shooter as Chen Yi-hsiung (陳義雄), who was found dead 10 days after the incident. The pan-blue camp at the time said that the shooting incident was staged. The case was closed by the Tainan Public Prosecutor’s Office in 2005.
In related news, Ma yesterday said he hoped to see the legislature pass amendments to the Local Government Act (地方制度法) by the middle of next month.
Wang said that the Presidential Office, Executive Yuan, Legislative Yuan and KMT came to a consensus on the speedy passage of the legal revisions at yesterday’s meeting.
While Taichung county and city as well as Kaohsiung county and city have made efforts to integrate and upgrade the administrative status of the merged regions, Wang said the proposed amendments were not custom-written for any county or city.
“The Executive Yuan will handle the matter fairly and legally,” Wang said.
Kaohsiung County Commissioner Yang Chiu-hsing (楊秋興) said he hoped to see the merger of Kaohsiung county and city happen in tandem with that of Taichung county and city next year.
Ma also said he wanted to see the legislature pass amendments to the Anti-Corruption Act (貪污治罪條例) that would lead to the prosecution of civil servants who could not identify the sources of their assets.
The Ministry of Education (MOE) is to launch a new program to encourage international students to stay in Taiwan and explore job opportunities here after graduation, Deputy Minister of Education Yeh Ping-cheng (葉丙成) said on Friday. The government would provide full scholarships for international students to further their studies for two years in Taiwan, so those who want to pursue a master’s degree can consider applying for the program, he said. The fields included are science, technology, engineering, mathematics, semiconductors and finance, Yeh added. The program, called “Intense 2+2,” would also assist international students who completed the two years of further studies in
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) departed for Europe on Friday night, with planned stops in Lithuania and Denmark. Tsai arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Friday night, but did not speak to reporters before departing. Tsai wrote on social media later that the purpose of the trip was to reaffirm the commitment of Taiwanese to working with democratic allies to promote regional security and stability, upholding freedom and democracy, and defending their homeland. She also expressed hope that through joint efforts, Taiwan and Europe would continue to be partners building up economic resilience on the global stage. The former president was to first
Taiwan will now have four additional national holidays after the Legislative Yuan passed an amendment today, which also made Labor Day a national holiday for all sectors. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) used their majority in the Legislative Yuan to pass the amendment to the Act on Implementing Memorial Days and State Holidays (紀念日及節日實施辦法), which the parties jointly proposed, in its third and final reading today. The legislature passed the bill to amend the act, which is currently enforced administratively, raising it to the legal level. The new legislation recognizes Confucius’ birthday on Sept. 28, the
MORE NEEDED: Recall drives against legislators in Miaoli’s two districts and Hsinchu’s second district were still a few thousand signatures short of the second-stage threshold Campaigners aiming to recall Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators yesterday said they expect success in 30 out of 35 districts where drives have passed the second-stage threshold, which would mark a record number of recall votes held at once. Hsinchu County recall campaigners yesterday announced that they reached the second-stage threshold in the recall effort against Legislator Lin Szu-ming (林思銘). A total of 26,414 signatures have been gathered over the past two months, surpassing the 10 percent threshold of 23,287 in Hsinchu County’s second electoral district, chief campaigner Hsieh Ting-ting (謝婷婷) said. “Our target is to gather an additional 1,500 signatures to reach
RSS