The Judicial Yuan should submit to the legislature a new bill governing judges as soon as possible to ensure better regulation and restore the credibility of the battered judiciary, a Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmaker said on Sunday.
“The recent spate of corruption scandals involving judges has proved that self-discipline is not enough to ensure judicial rectitude,” KMT Legislator Chiu Yi (邱毅) said. “Strict legislation and more outside supervision are badly needed.”
Chiu said the Judicial Yuan has not come up with a new version since its previous bill on judges was rejected by the legislature.
“As the top supervisory body of courts and judges, the Judicial Yuan is obligated to present a new version of the judges bill for ratification by the legislature,” Chiu said, adding that the Judicial Yuan should stop dragging its feet on the issue.
Without a Judicial Yuan-drafted bill, the legislature can do nothing to respond to the public demand for stricter regulation of the judiciary, Chiu said.
Asked about an appeal by Taiwan High Court Judge Chen Heng-kuan (陳恆寬) for President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) to call a national meeting on judicial reform, Chiu said that what matters was action and mettle.
Chen, one of three judges who presided over the trial of former Presidential Office deputy secretary-general Chen Che-nan (陳哲男) at the Taiwan High Court, resigned on Thursday to protest the lenient sentence handed down to Chen Che-nan. However, he said on Saturday he had changed his mind and withdrew his resignation.
“My conscience told me to stay on and continue the fight for judicial reform,” Chen Heng-kuan said, adding that he hoped Ma would call a national meeting on judicial reform to win back public trust in the judiciary.
However, Chiu said that holding such a meeting might only generate some media coverage, while achieving nothing substantive. He said that both the administrative and judicial branches should show resolve by decisive action rather than mere lip service.
Chiu said the problems in the judicial system were mainly the result of the judiciary's bureaucratic mentality, under which individual judges mind only their own business or even cover up each other's illicit or corrupt activities.
He said this kind of judicial culture had left conscientious and incorruptible judges busy and corrupt judges “rich and famous.”
Chiu said joint efforts from within and without the ranks of the judiciary were needed to stop this cycle of evil.
KMT Legislator Lu Hsueh-chang (呂學樟) said he supported Chen Heng-kuan's call for a national conference to pool wisdom to map out a judicial reform package.
Saying judicial reform needed the collaboration of police, investigators, prosecutors, judges and lawyers, Lu called on Ma to play a leading role in integrating resources in all these sectors to promote reform.
Three Taiwanese airlines have prohibited passengers from packing Bluetooth earbuds and their charger cases in checked luggage. EVA Air and Uni Air said that Bluetooth earbuds and charger cases are categorized as portable electronic devices, which should be switched off if they are placed in checked luggage based on international aviation safety regulations. They must not be in standby or sleep mode. However, as charging would continue when earbuds are placed in the charger cases, which would contravene international aviation regulations, their cases must be carried as hand luggage, they said. Tigerair Taiwan said that earbud charger cases are equipped
UNILATERAL MOVES: Officials have raised concerns that Beijing could try to exert economic control over Kinmen in a key development plan next year The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) yesterday said that China has so far failed to provide any information about a new airport expected to open next year that is less than 10km from a Taiwanese airport, raising flight safety concerns. Xiamen Xiangan International Airport is only about 3km at its closest point from the islands in Kinmen County — the scene of on-off fighting during the Cold War — and construction work can be seen and heard clearly from the Taiwan side. In a written statement sent to Reuters, the CAA said that airports close to each other need detailed advanced
Tropical Storm Fung-Wong would likely strengthen into a typhoon later today as it continues moving westward across the Pacific before heading in Taiwan’s direction next week, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 8am, Fung-Wong was about 2,190km east-southeast of Cape Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, moving westward at 25kph and possibly accelerating to 31kph, CWA data showed. The tropical storm is currently over waters east of the Philippines and still far from Taiwan, CWA forecaster Tseng Chao-cheng (曾昭誠) said, adding that it could likely strengthen into a typhoon later in the day. It is forecast to reach the South China Sea
WEATHER Typhoon forming: CWA A tropical depression is expected to form into a typhoon as early as today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday, adding that the storm’s path remains uncertain. Before the weekend, it would move toward the Philippines, the agency said. Some time around Monday next week, it might reach a turning point, either veering north toward waters east of Taiwan or continuing westward across the Philippines, the CWA said. Meanwhile, the eye of Typhoon Kalmaegi was 1,310km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, as of 2am yesterday, it said. The storm is forecast to move through central
RSS