Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lo Shu-lei (羅淑蕾) yesterday said she would like to join a task force to monitor and assess the management at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport.
Lo was responding hours after Vice Minister of Transportation and Communications Yeh Kuang-shih (葉匡時) said he might invite Lo to join the task force, which was assembled a few days ago after Lo broke the news that some airport terminal control center workers were drinking on the job and that a manpower agency had falsified personnel schedules to embezzle money from the airport.
Yeh also expressed hope that Lo would provide suggestions on how to improve the management at the airport.
Yeh’s offer came after Lo questioned the task force’s credibility and said she would be happy to join it for free if the transportation ministry asked her to do so.
Lo said she was pleased to learn the ministry was willing to rectify its errors and make improvements and that she wanted to make a voluntary contribution to the efforts.
Lo also said she leaked information about the scandals to propel the ministry to carry out a comprehensive reform of airport management and operations.
Lo said she did not initially intend to expose the scandals after receiving complaints from the public, but changed her mind after seeking information about the alleged incidents from the Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) and being informed that “such things hadn’t happened.”
Lo said she would continue her whistle blowing if the ministry and the CAA continue denying that problems exist.
She also said that after the scandals came to light, she had received more complaints that she would compile for referall to the task force.
Lo urged the task force not to ignore complaints and petitions filed by the public and told the authorities not to cover up each other’s misconduct, saying that these factors would affect the success of the airport’s reform.
The task force is headed by former CAA director-general and current Aviation Safety Council Chairman Chang Yu-hern (張有恆), and composed of David Pang (彭定中), former CEO of the Airport Authority of Hong Kong, and several airline chief executives.
Last month Lo accused management of allowing illegal food vendors to turn the airport into a “night market.”
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY STAFF WRITER
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