The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus yesterday penalized Legislator Chen Ou-po (陳歐珀) over his behavior at the funeral of President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) mother by suspending his right to participate in caucus activities for six months.
Chen will not be able to take part in any caucus activities, including being elected as a caucus official or as a convener for any legislative committee.
It is the strongest penalty the caucus has ever handed out, DPP caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) told a press conference.
Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times
DPP Legislator Wu Ping-jui (吳秉叡) said Chen would be allowed to attend caucus meetings, but his right to vote would be suspended for six months.
The Yilan County lawmaker showed up uninvited to Chin Hou-hsiu’s (秦厚修) funeral on Monday morning and expressed displeasure at what he said was an inadequate reception at the funeral home.
His comments were caught on videotape and were labeled by most media outlets as an intentional “disturbance.”
Chen has apologized several times this week for his actions, but this has not mollified his critics. He has said he simply wanted to pay tribute to Chin and “made a suggestion” to Ma’s aides that they should have made better arrangements for people who wished to mourn Chin. He said the media had blown the incident out of proportion.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers have petitioned for Chen to be referred to the Legislative Yuan’s Discipline Committee.
Chen said he accepted the caucus’ penalty. He also said that he had already taken the initiative to put an end to the incident by resigning as convener of the Foreign and National Defense Committee.
He said yesterday that he accept the referral to the Discipline Committee, which could bar Chen from exercising some of his rights as a legislator.
Several DPP politicians said that while they found Chen’s behavior unacceptable, they though the KMT’s reaction was aimed more at shifting attention away from a campaign launched by a group of activists to recall several KMT legislators, including Wu Yu-sheng (吳育昇), Lin Hung-chih (林鴻池) and Alex Tsai (蔡正元), for “being Ma’s pets” and ignoring the public’s voice in policy areas.
SPACE VETERAN: Kjell N. Lindgren, who helps lead NASA’s human spaceflight missions, has been on two expeditions on the ISS and has spent 311 days in space Taiwan-born US astronaut Kjell N. Lindgren is to visit Taiwan to promote technological partnerships through one of the programs organized by the US for its 250th national anniversary. Lindgren would be in Taiwan from Tuesday to Saturday next week as part of the US Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs’ US Speaker Program, organized to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) said in a statement yesterday. Lindgren plans to engage with key leaders across the nation “to advance cutting-edge technological partnerships and inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers,”
UNREASONABLE SURVEILLANCE: A camera targeted on an road by a neighbor captured a man’s habitual unsignaled turn into home, netting him dozens of tickets The Taichung High Administrative Court has canceled all 45 tickets given to a man for failing to use a turn signal while driving, as it considered long-term surveillance of his privacy more problematic than the traffic violations. The man, surnamed Tseng (曾), lives in Changhua County and was reported 45 times within a month for failing to signal while driving when he turned into the alley where his residence is. The reports were filed by his neighbor, who set up security cameras that constantly monitored not only the alley but also the door and yard of Tseng’s house. The surveillance occurred from July
A Japan Self-Defense Forces vessel entered the Taiwan Strait yesterday, Japanese media reported. After passing through the Taiwan Strait, the Ikazuchi was to proceed to the South China Sea to take part in a joint military exercise with the US and the Philippines, the reports said. Japan Self-Defense Force vessels were first reported to have passed through the strait in September, 2024, with two further transits taking place in February and June last year, the Asahi Shimbun reported. Yesterday’s transit also marked the first time since Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi took office that a Japanese warship has been sent through the Taiwan
ANOTHER OPTION: The 13-year-old, whose residency status was revoked for holding a Chinese passport, could still apply for residency on humanitarian grounds, the government said The Executive Yuan has rejected an appeal from a 13-year-old Chinese student surnamed Lu (陸), whose permanent residency was revoked after immigration officers discovered he held a Chinese passport. Lu in December 2023 applied to settle in Taiwan to be with his mother, surnamed Lin (林), who is a Taiwan resident, an appeal decision released this month by the Executive Yuan showed. Lin settled in Taiwan after marrying a Taiwanese man in 2003, but the two divorced in 2011, and after marrying a Chinese man, she had Lu, the Executive Yuan’s appeals committee said. Lu’s application was approved in December 2024, and in
RSS