The legislature yesterday revised regulations to demand that public servants deprived of their positions because they hold dual nationality return the amount they earned during their term of office in the public sector.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chiu Chih-wei (邱志偉), who sponsored the amendment to the Civil Service Employment Act (公務人員任用法), said that the revision was aimed at “cultivating loyalty among public servants.”
Public servants are barred from holding dual citizenship under the Nationality Act (國籍法) and face dismissal for violating the regulation, but there was no stipulation demanding that they pay financial compensation.
Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei Times
Meanwhile, lawmakers removed a clause from the act that disqualified people with physical disabilities from being hired as public servants despite them being qualified as prescribed by a related act.
The legislature also approved an amendment to the Criminal Procedural Act (刑事訴訟法) to provide legal protection for economically disadvantaged people and Aborigines, by requiring the mandatory presence of lawyers both when people from these groups are questioned by prosecutors and when they appear in court for trial.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Jeng Tian-tsair (鄭天財) hailed the revision as a big step forward in protecting Aboriginal people’s judicial rights.
The legislature enacted the Act on Cross-Border Transfer of Prisoners (跨國移交受刑人法) to set out the legal basis for transferring prisoners between nations, including regulations pertaining to calculations on time remaining to be served and procedures for the transfer of prisoners, to ensure that the process is carried out smoothly.
According to government statistics, about 1,500 Taiwanese are serving sentences abroad, with 1,000 in China and more than 500 in Southeastern Asian countries, while Taiwan holds 492 foreign prisoners.
Under the act, the transfer of prisoners requires consent from both the prisoner’s home country and host country, while the prisoner must agree to the transfer through his or her own free will.
The legislature also required a report from the Judicial Yuan, the Ministry of Justice, the Mainland Affairs Council, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of the Interior on the situation of Taiwanese incarcerated in other countries.
Eight restaurants in Taiwan yesterday secured a one-star rating from the Michelin Guide Taiwan for the first time, while three one-star restaurants from last year’s edition were promoted to two stars. Forty-three restaurants were awarded one star this year, including 34 in Taipei, five in Taichung and four in Kaohsiung. Hosu (好嶼), Chuan Ya (川雅), Sushi Kajin (鮨嘉仁), aMaze (心宴), La Vie by Thomas Buhner, Yuan Yi (元一) and Frassi in Taipei and Front House (方蒔) in Kaohsiung received a one-star rating for the first time. Hosu is known for innovative Taiwanese dishes, while Chuan Ya serves Sichuan cuisine and aMaze specializes
STATS: Taiwan’s average life expectancy of 80.77 years was lower than that of Japan, Singapore and South Korea, but higher than in China, Malaysia and Indonesia Taiwan’s average life expectancy last year increased to 80.77 years, but was still not back to its pre-COVID-19 pandemic peak of 81.32 years in 2020, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday. The average life expectancy last year increased the 0.54 years from 2023, the ministry said in a statement. For men and women, the average life expectancy last year was 77.42 years and 84.30 years respectively, up 0.48 years and 0.56 years from the previous year. Taiwan’s average life expectancy peaked at 81.32 years in 2020, as the nation was relatively unaffected by the pandemic that year. The metric
Taitung County is to launch charter flights to Malaysia at the end of this year, after setting up flights to Vietnam and Thailand, the Taitung County Government said yesterday. The new charter flight services, provided by low-cost carrier Batik Air Malaysia, would be part of five-day tour packages for visits to Taitung County or Malaysia. The Batik Air charter flight, with about 200 seats, would take Malaysian tourists to Taitung on Dec. 30 and then at 12:35pm return to Kuala Lumpur with Taiwanese tourists. Another charter flight would bring the Taiwanese home on Jan. 3 next year, arriving at 5:30pm, before taking the
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