Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers yesterday used their majority advantage to pass a motion to have Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Pasuya Yao (姚文智) handed over to the legislature’s Discipline Committee for allowing a representative of an activist group to sit in during a legislative committee hearing and “harass” a KMT legislator last week.
Representatives of Taiwan March, an activist group that has been pushing for the passage of amendments to the Referendum Act (公民投票法), sat in on a meeting of the legislature’s Internal Administration Committee on Thursday last week to review the act. Their presence was sanctioned by Yao, the committee convener who presided over the meeting that day.
After the meeting adjourned, Taiwan March founder and Academia Sinica researcher Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) confronted KMT Legislator Chang Ching-chung (張慶忠), accusing him of spouting nonsense and obstructing the review of the Referendum Act, and calling him the “shame of the legislature.”
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
The KMT caucus voted during a meeting of the Procedure Committee yesterday that Yao be subjected to disciplinary review, citing regulations barring public attendance in legislative committee meetings and for his failure to control the behavior of the activists.
DPP Legislator Tsai Huang-lang (蔡煌瑯) tried to dissuade his KMT colleagues from approving the move, saying Yao had called Chang after the meeting to express his disapproval over Huang’s yelling at a lawmaker.
Tsai added that whether civic groups should be allowed to sit in on committee meetings could be further negotiated.
The KMT lawmakers rejected Tsai’s suggestion, with KMT Legislator Lin Te-fu (林德福) saying that Yao’s decision to open up the meeting to activist group members, who were “echoed and supported by a dozen more outside the building,” posed a threat to “lawmakers and the dignity of the legislature.”
Lin added that Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) had agreed that Yao should be subject to possible disciplinary measures by the Discipline Committee.
KMT Legislator Wu Yu-sheng (吳育昇) quoted DPP caucus whip Ker Chien-ming’s (柯建銘) past remarks on legislative regulations barring civil groups from legislative committee meetings, adding that they would also create pressure on legislators.
“I left the meeting in the afternoon [on Thursday] when the committee was starting to review the act, because I was not willing to express my opinions under fear and pressure,” Wu said.
The KMT lawmakers passed the motion, placing it on the agenda for Friday’s legislative session. However, it is not likely to be dealt with soon, if ever, as it has been placed at close to the bottom of the day’s agenda.
The brilliant blue waters, thick foliage and bucolic atmosphere on this seemingly idyllic archipelago deep in the Pacific Ocean belie the key role it now plays in a titanic geopolitical struggle. Palau is again on the front line as China, and the US and its allies prepare their forces in an intensifying contest for control over the Asia-Pacific region. The democratic nation of just 17,000 people hosts US-controlled airstrips and soon-to-be-completed radar installations that the US military describes as “critical” to monitoring vast swathes of water and airspace. It is also a key piece of the second island chain, a string of
A magnitude 5.9 earthquake that struck about 33km off the coast of Hualien City was the "main shock" in a series of quakes in the area, with aftershocks expected over the next three days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Prior to the magnitude 5.9 quake shaking most of Taiwan at 6:53pm yesterday, six other earthquakes stronger than a magnitude of 4, starting with a magnitude 5.5 quake at 6:09pm, occurred in the area. CWA Seismological Center Director Wu Chien-fu (吳健富) confirmed that the quakes were all part of the same series and that the magnitude 5.5 temblor was
Taiwan will now have four additional national holidays after the Legislative Yuan passed an amendment today, which also made Labor Day a national holiday for all sectors. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) used their majority in the Legislative Yuan to pass the amendment to the Act on Implementing Memorial Days and State Holidays (紀念日及節日實施辦法), which the parties jointly proposed, in its third and final reading today. The legislature passed the bill to amend the act, which is currently enforced administratively, raising it to the legal level. The new legislation recognizes Confucius’ birthday on Sept. 28, the
The Central Weather Administration has issued a heat alert for southeastern Taiwan, warning of temperatures as high as 36°C today, while alerting some coastal areas of strong winds later in the day. Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門) and Pingtung County’s Neipu Township (內埔) are under an orange heat alert, which warns of temperatures as high as 36°C for three consecutive days, the CWA said, citing southwest winds. The heat would also extend to Tainan’s Nansi (楠西) and Yujing (玉井) districts, as well as Pingtung’s Gaoshu (高樹), Yanpu (鹽埔) and Majia (瑪家) townships, it said, forecasting highs of up to 36°C in those areas
RSS