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.
STAY AWAY: An official said people should avoid disturbing snakes, as most do not actively attack humans, but would react defensively if threatened Taitung County authorities yesterday urged the public to stay vigilant and avoid disturbing snakes in the wild, following five reported snakebite cases in the county so far this year. Taitung County Fire Department secretary Lin Chien-cheng (林建誠) said two of the cases were in Donghe Township (東河) and involved the Taiwan habus, one person was bit by a Chinese pit viper near the South Link Railway and the remaining two were caused by unidentified snakes. He advised residents near fields to be cautious of snakes hiding in shady indoor areas, especially when entering or leaving their homes at night. In case of a
A tropical disturbance off the southeastern coast of the Philippines might become the first typhoon of the western Pacific typhoon season, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The system lacks a visible center and how it would develop is only likely to become clear on Sunday or Monday, the CWA said, adding that it was not yet possible to forecast the potential typhoon's effect on Taiwan. The American Meteorological Society defines a tropical disturbance as a system made up of showers and thunderstorms that lasts for at least 24 hours and does not have closed wind circulation.
ENERGY RESILIENCE: Although Alaska is open for investments, Taiwan is sourcing its gas from the Middle East, and the sea routes carry risks, Ho Cheng-hui said US government officials’ high-profile reception of a Taiwanese representative at the Alaska Sustainable Energy Conference indicated the emergence of an Indo-Pacific energy resilience alliance, an academic said. Presidential Office Secretary-General Pan Men-an (潘孟安) attended the conference in Alaska on Thursday last week at the invitation of the US government. Pan visited oil and gas facilities with senior US officials, including US Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, US Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy and US Senator Daniel Sullivan. Pan attending the conference on behalf of President William Lai (賴清德) shows a significant elevation in diplomatic representation,
Credit departments of farmers’ and fishers’ associations blocked a total of more than NT$180 million (US$6.01 million) from being lost to scams last year, National Police Agency (NPA) data showed. The Agricultural Finance Agency (AFA) said last week that staff of farmers’ and fishers’ associations’ credit departments are required to implement fraud prevention measures when they serve clients at the counter. They would ask clients about personal financial management activities whenever they suspect there might be a fraud situation, and would immediately report the incident to local authorities, which would send police officers to the site to help, it said. NPA data showed
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