KMT and DPP lawmakers yesterday joined hands to pass the third and final reading of amendments to the controversial Agricultural Development Act, with members of the greatly-outnumbered New Party boycotting the process.
New regulations concerning agricultural community land re-zoning (
Elmer Feng (
"We did it to call attention from other legislators to the rules of procedure and the importance of inter-party negotiations. When the legislature passed regulations [earlier this week] to raise salaries for local representatives, the opinions of the New Party were totally ignored," Feng said.
"It destroyed the inter-party negotiation mechanism at the legislature, in effect sabotaging the existing system. It also led to discord between the parties. We were forced to do this," he said.
Feng's colleague, Feng Ting-kuo (馮定國) expressed hope that the regulations would in fact benefit people whose houses were destroyed in last year's quake.
"We hope the regulations will help people in earthquake-affected regions rebuild their homes through a land-for-land scheme," Feng Ting-kuo said. "We hope this can happen as soon as the regulations go into effect."
Lawmaker Hsieh Chi-tai (謝啟大), also of the New Party, said she doubted whether the agricultural community land re-zoning regulations would really help.
"We have to remember that those people with destroyed houses that were mortgaged get only a `favor' from the government -- a five-year suspension of their loan repayments," Hsieh said.
"This does not mean that they will be exempt from paying for houses that are no longer standing. Starting from the sixth year, they will have to pay not only their bank loans but also the interest generated during the past five years," she said.
Taiwan’s Lee Chia-hao (李佳豪) on Sunday won a silver medal at the All England Open Badminton Championships in Birmingham, England, a career best. Lee, 25, took silver in the final of the men’s singles against world No. 1 Shi Yuqi (石宇奇) of China, who won 21-17, 21-19 in a tough match that lasted 51 minutes. After the match, the Taiwanese player, who ranks No. 22 in the world, said it felt unreal to be challenging an opponent of Shi’s caliber. “I had to be in peak form, and constantly switch my rhythm and tactics in order to score points effectively,” he said. Lee got
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