The four winners of the legislative by-elections were sworn in yesterday by Grand Justice Huang Hung-hsia (黃虹霞), with Legislative Speaker Su Jia-chyuan (蘇嘉全) and the caucus whips from the two main political parties attending.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Yu Tian (余天), representing Taipei’s Sanchong District (三重), is to have a seat on the Internal Administration Committee, while DPP Legislator Kuo Kuo-wen (郭國文), representing Tainan’s second electoral district, is to have a seat on the Economic Committee, the Legislative Yuan said.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Ko Cheng-fang (柯呈枋) is to sit on the Transportation Committee, while independent Legislator Chen Yu-chen (陳玉珍) is to join the Judiciary and Organic Laws and Statutes Committee, it said.
Photo: Huang Yao-cheng, Taipei Times
DPP caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) said that the party welcomed two experienced members whose efforts would no doubt help immensely to push its policies.
Yu had served as a legislator and was on the Internal Administration Committee, while Kuo is equally experienced, having previously served as deputy minister of labor, Ker said.
Yu said that he promised during his campaign to be attentive to and to satisfy the public will, adding that he would prioritize matters that members of the public bring to his attention.
Yu cited as an example complaints by borough wardens about maintenance of closed-circuit television systems (CCTV).
CCTV maintenance used to be the borough warden’s responsibility, but it has been transferred to local police stations, but requests for repairs often go unheeded, Yu said, adding that he would prioritize resolving this issue, as it concerns public safety.
Kuo said that he would still need to get accustomed to a role reversal, with him asking questions now of government officials instead of being the one answering them.
His primary mission is to better serve his constituents though policy interpellation, project backing and funding allocation, Kuo said.
Ko said he hoped to amend legislation that would benefit the nation and the public, and that he would work with the KMT caucus and help provide oversight of the government.
As the first female legislator representing Kinmen County, Chen said she would make the “affairs of Kinmen residents, whether great or small, my affairs,” and would staunchly relay to the government their needs.
THE HAWAII FACTOR: While a 1965 opinion said an attack on Hawaii would not trigger Article 5, the text of the treaty suggests the state is covered, the report says NATO could be drawn into a conflict in the Taiwan Strait if Chinese forces attacked the US mainland or Hawaii, a NATO Defense College report published on Monday says. The report, written by James Lee, an assistant research fellow at Academia Sinica’s Institute of European and American Studies, states that under certain conditions a Taiwan contingency could trigger Article 5 of NATO, under which an attack against any member of the alliance is considered an attack against all members, necessitating a response. Article 6 of the North Atlantic Treaty specifies that an armed attack in the territory of any member in Europe,
FLU SEASON: Twenty-six severe cases were reported from Tuesday last week to Monday, including a seven-year-old girl diagnosed with influenza-associated encephalopathy Nearly 140,000 people sought medical assistance for diarrhea last week, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said on Tuesday. From April 7 to Saturday last week, 139,848 people sought medical help for diarrhea-related illness, a 15.7 percent increase from last week’s 120,868 reports, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Deputy Director Lee Chia-lin (李佳琳) said. The number of people who reported diarrhea-related illness last week was the fourth highest in the same time period over the past decade, Lee said. Over the past four weeks, 203 mass illness cases had been reported, nearly four times higher than the 54 cases documented in the same period
Heat advisories were in effect for nine administrative regions yesterday afternoon as warm southwesterly winds pushed temperatures above 38°C in parts of southern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 3:30pm yesterday, Tainan’s Yujing District (玉井) had recorded the day’s highest temperature of 39.7°C, though the measurement will not be included in Taiwan’s official heat records since Yujing is an automatic rather than manually operated weather station, the CWA said. Highs recorded in other areas were 38.7°C in Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門), 38.2°C in Chiayi City and 38.1°C in Pingtung’s Sandimen Township (三地門), CWA data showed. The spell of scorching
HOSPITALITY HIT: Hotels in Hualien have an occupancy rate of 10 percent, down from 30 percent before the earthquake, a Tourism Administration official said The Executive Yuan yesterday unveiled a stimulus package of vouchers and subsidies to revive tourism in Hualien County following a quake measuring 7.2 on the Richter scale. The tremor on April 3, which killed at least 17 people and left two others missing, caused the county an estimated NT$3 billion (US$92.7 million) in damages. The Ministry of Economic Affairs is to issue vouchers worth NT$200 at the price of NT$100 for purchases at the Dongdamen Night Market (東大門夜市) in Hualien City to boost spending, a ministry official told a news conference after a Cabinet meeting in Taipei. The ministry plans to issue 18,400