Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators yesterday voiced support for former China Youth Corps chairman Pai Hsiu-hsiung (白秀雄), calling on responsible agencies to “toughen up,” suspend operations at the corps and abolish what they called “legally baseless” guidelines governing accommodations at the corps’ Youth Activity Centers around the nation.
DPP Legislator Lai Jui-lung (賴瑞隆) told a news conference at the legislature that the corps’ articles of association contravene the Civil Associations Act (人民團體法), and criticized the organization for driving out the reformist Pai.
More than NT$5 billion (US$166.53 million) of the corps’ assets come from the government, he said, urging the Ministry of the Interior to promptly replace corps director Ger Yeong-guang (葛永光).
Photo: Chen Chih-chu, Taipei Times
Thanks to the privileges and resources it received during the authoritarian era, the corps makes about NT$2.9 billion in profits each year, but its opaque financial structure has shielded billions in operational expenses from public scrutiny, he said.
Minister of the Interior Yeh Jiunn-rong (葉俊榮) should “toughen up” and reform the corps, Lai said.
“Stop protecting the illegal China Youth Corps,” DPP Lawmaker Wu Yu-chin (吳玉琴) said.
The organization’s directors and supervisors forced Pai to resign so that they could elect someone who would follow their wishes and not push for reforms, she said.
The ministry should immediately suspend operations at the youth activity centers, she said.
DPP Legislator Kolas Yotaka said that Ger might be plotting to “continue the corps’ vices.”
The corps’ articles of association, which stipulate that the “director represents the corps,” contravene the Civil Associations Act, she said.
The interior ministry and the Ministry of Education must not tolerate corps members illegally pursuing vested interests by just issuing letters to censure, she said.
DPP Legislator Hung Tsung-yi (洪宗熠) said the organization used “despicable” means to oust Pai, and urged the interior ministry to punish those responsible.
The corps, which is being probed by the Ill-Gotten Party Assets Settlement Committee for possible links to the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), has meddled with the KMT’s primaries for next year’s local elections, and the ministry should investigate its actions, Hung said.
Pusin Corps Committee members urged KMT Legislator Wang Hui-mei (王惠美) to enter the party primary for the Changhua County commissioner election, Hung said.
Against regulations, Ger dominates the corps’ administrative structure, and the interior ministry should put a stop to it, DPP Legislator Chang Hung-lu (張宏陸) said.
Chen Mao-chun (陳茂春), director of the ministry’s Cooperative and Civil Association Preparatory Office, said that his office had seized 12 boxes of files from the corps for investigation by the Ill-Gotten Party Assets Settlement Committee.
It also sent two letters to the corps demanding that it amend its articles of association, Chen said.
As for the corps’ board vetoing Pai’s draft for new articles of association for the corps, Chen said the office has demanded that the corps be headed by its chairman, not its director.
If the corps, at its general assembly in February, refuses to amend its articles of association, the office would punish it, he said.
Ministry of Education official Wang Yu-chun (王育群) said the ministry would consult with the Ministry of Transportations and Communications over logistics for abolishing the Guidelines on Ensuring the Safety and Maintaining Accommodation Facilities at the Youth Activity Center (青年活動中心住宿設施管理及安全維護辦法).
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