Outgoing Control Yuan member Chen Shih-meng (陳師孟) visited former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), prompting speculation about their plans and coinciding with the release yesterday of an online poll showing support for investigating misconduct and abuse of power in the justice system.
The former president yesterday posted a photograph on Facebook showing him and Chen Shih-meng sitting and smiling while holding Chen Shui-bian’s book published in May last year, with the message: “Pushing to uphold judicial reform, but the wings were clipped before taking flight.”
The post was believed to be a reference to Chen Shih-meng’s resignation last week from the Control Yuan after encountering opposition for attempting to investigate “dinosaur judges” for allegedly issuing politically biased rulings.
Chen Shih-meng, who also spoke out about political figures obstructing judicial reform and protecting judges from scrutiny, is to leave office at the end of the month.
The meeting led to speculation that Chen Shih-meng was working to consolidate “deep green” groups and supporters of the former president after the Taiwan Action Party Alliance was disbanded when it received only 1.02 percent of party votes in the Jan. 11 legislative elections.
Others have said that Chen Shih-meng might attempt to restart the civic group Friends of Beanstalk Association, which he cofounded in 2009, when the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) controlled the central government.
A poll conducted by local online media outlet ETToday found that 46.7 percent of respondents agree that the Control Yuan should have the power for checks and balances against the judiciary to prevent the justice system from becoming dictatorial.
The poll also found that 67.5 percent of respondents believed that Taiwan’s justice system does not have judicial independence.
A total of 67.2 percent of respondents said they believe that President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) efforts toward judicial reform have made no progress, while about 20 percent said that they believe her efforts have made progress.
The poll, conducted on Tuesday and Wednesday, collected 1,492 valid samples through mobile phone text messages, ETToday said.
Eight restaurants in Taiwan yesterday secured a one-star rating from the Michelin Guide Taiwan for the first time, while three one-star restaurants from last year’s edition were promoted to two stars. Forty-three restaurants were awarded one star this year, including 34 in Taipei, five in Taichung and four in Kaohsiung. Hosu (好嶼), Chuan Ya (川雅), Sushi Kajin (鮨嘉仁), aMaze (心宴), La Vie by Thomas Buhner, Yuan Yi (元一) and Frassi in Taipei and Front House (方蒔) in Kaohsiung received a one-star rating for the first time. Hosu is known for innovative Taiwanese dishes, while Chuan Ya serves Sichuan cuisine and aMaze specializes
Taitung County is to launch charter flights to Malaysia at the end of this year, after setting up flights to Vietnam and Thailand, the Taitung County Government said yesterday. The new charter flight services, provided by low-cost carrier Batik Air Malaysia, would be part of five-day tour packages for visits to Taitung County or Malaysia. The Batik Air charter flight, with about 200 seats, would take Malaysian tourists to Taitung on Dec. 30 and then at 12:35pm return to Kuala Lumpur with Taiwanese tourists. Another charter flight would bring the Taiwanese home on Jan. 3 next year, arriving at 5:30pm, before taking the
Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp. (THSRC) plans to ease strained capacity during peak hours by introducing new fare rules restricting passengers traveling without reserved seats in 2026, company Chairman Shih Che (史哲) said Wednesday. THSRC needs to tackle its capacity issue because there have been several occasions where passengers holding tickets with reserved seats did not make it onto their train in stations packed with individuals traveling without a reserved seat, Shih told reporters in a joint interview in Taipei. Non-reserved seats allow travelers maximum flexibility, but it has led to issues relating to quality of service and safety concerns, especially during
An exhibition celebrating Taiwan and Japan’s comic culture opened on Saturday in Taichung, featuring a section that explores Taiwanese reproductions of Japanese comics from when martial law limited Japanese representation. “A Century of Manga Culture: An Encounter of Taiwan and Japan’s Youth” held its Taiwan opening ceremony at Taichung’s National Taiwan Museum of Comics after an initial one-month run in Japan’s Kyoto International Manga Museum between May 24 and June 24. Much like the Kyoto exhibition, the show mainly celebrates the comic connection between Taiwan and Japan through late Taiwanese comic book
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