While the governing and opposition parties might differ over policy, they share a common goal in wanting to make the nation a better place, Premier Lin Chuan (林全) said yesterday as he visited the legislative caucuses.
In his meeting with the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus, the premier said he had not returned to the Legislative Yuan since he left the Ministry of Finance in 2006, but he had examined various problems relating to public policies over the past 10 years with the DPP and then-presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) during the election campaign.
Lin said he was glad to see the DPP win a legislative majority, which would facilitate implementation of public policies, and promised to continue communicating with lawmakers.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus also gave Lin a warm welcome, while presenting their requests — that the Cabinet reject imports of US pork containing ractopamine; defend fishermen’s rights to fish around the Okinotori atoll; and continue the practice of implementing toll-free hours on freeways during the four-day Dragon Boat Festival next week.
Lin said that he would include the KMT caucus’ suggestions for review in the Cabinet meeting and ask related agencies to review their potential impacts before making a decision.
Separately, KMT Legislator Apollo Chen (陳學聖) accused Lin of “dereliction of duty” over his decision to drop charges against Sunflower movement protesters who stormed into the Executive Yuan compound in 2014. He said he would file charges against the premier with the Special Investigation Division.
Chen said that the dropping of criminal charges against the protestors has “hurt the morale of front-line law enforcement agents” and could “cause confusion as to how law enforcement should be carried out.”
Chen said Lin had violated the Criminal Code as a public official for “directly or indirectly [seeking] to gain illegal benefits from a function under his control or supervision for himself or others and gains benefits,” and the Anti-corruption Act (貪污治罪條例).
Chen said that the premier calls the protesters’ storming of the Executive Yuan building a “political incident,” but similar incidents have been dealt with strictly by the law.
He cited as examples former KMT legislator Chiu Yi’s (邱毅) attempt to ram a truck into the Kaohsiung District Court building and former KMT legislator Lee Ching-hua (李慶華) leading a rampage outside the Central Election Commission in protest against the outcome of the 2004 presidential election.
Chiu’s and Lee’s cases were decided by the judiciary and both received their punishments, Chen said.
Lin’s decision to spare protesters would inspire people disgruntled with politics to follow suit, Chen said.
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