As the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) gets ready for the annual election of its Central Standing Committee members on Sept. 1. party members have expressed dissatisfaction with the low participation of administrative officers in party affairs.
The committee consists of 39 members, 32 of whom are elected by party members and seven appointed by the party chairman. Five of those seven are administrative officers recommended by the premier and two head the KMT Youth League and the National Youth Work Commission.
Current appointed administrative officers are Executive Yuan Secretary-General Steven Chen (陳士魁), Council for Economic Planning and Development Minister Yiin Chii-ming (尹啟銘), Council of Agriculture Minister Chen Bao-ji (陳保基), Council for Hakka Affairs Minister Huang Yu-chen (黃玉振) and Minister without Portfolio Lin Junq-tzer (林政則).
At a recent meeting, committee members said the committee was not functioning optimally because administrative officers did not like participating in party affairs, citing as an example these officers’ low attendance.
The administrative officers should start rethinking their role so that party and state policies can work together, committee members said, adding that as committee members come from all over the country and are in close contact with the public, these officers would benefit from attending the meetings.
Committee members know what it is the public wants or what it does not like and such information would go a long way toward helping policy formulation and implementation, a member said.
Realizing that administrative officers have been skipping meetings, KMT Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said they should attend the meetings so they could listen to the opinions of party members and the public they represent, while at the same time offer information about current government policies so party members can better defend these policies.
After Ma’s comments, four of the five appointed members appeared in the committee meeting the very next week, and according to sources, they did not leave until the meeting concluded.
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