A Cabinet committee yesterday approved a proposal initiated by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) calling for a referendum on forcing the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) to return its stolen assets to the nation's coffers.
"The referendum will be held should the signatures of 5 percent of registered voters at the last presidential election, or 825,359 people, be collected within six months," said Shih Hui-fen (施惠芬), the commissioner of the Cabinet's Appeals Review Committee.
After collecting 108,000 signatures on a petition backing the idea of a referendum, an alliance led by the DPP submitted the petition to the "Referendum Review Commission" for screening on Sept. 4.
PHOTO: CHU PEI-HSIUNG, TAIPEI TIMES
As the commission failed to decide whether it would accept the petition by Nov. 4, one month after the petition was handed over, DPP Chairman Yu Shyi-kun filed a complaint with the Cabinet's Appeals Review Committee on Nov. 6 and it was approved yesterday.
The "Referendum Review Commission," set up under the Cabinet, is composed of 21 members recommended by Taiwan's political parties based on their share of legislative seats, as a result of which the commission is dominated by the pan-blue camp.
Commission Chairman Kao Yung-kuang (葛永光) had said on Nov. 3 that the commission would vote on Nov. 24 on whether to screen the petition, but that might preclude the DPP's plan to collect the signatures by taking advantage of next month's mayoral elections.
However, the approval yesterday by the Appeals Review Committee would make the possibility of passing the threshold of 825,359 signatures within one month possible.
In related developments, two statutes, sponsored by the government and the DPP, aimed at divesting the KMT of its stolen assets had their preliminarily review by the legislature's joint committee.
While the People First Party lawmakers helped the DPP in putting the long-stalled statutes onto the legislative agenda last month, they sided with the KMT against reviewing the statutes yesterday.
The joint committee was composed of the Home and Nations Committee, the Judiciary Committee, the Finance Committee, and the Organic Laws and Statutes Committee.
As the pan-blue alliance holds a majority in the joint committees, KMT Legislators Lin Hung-chih (林鴻池) motioned a proposal to dismiss the committee at the beginning of yesterday's meeting, but DPP Legislator Kao Chien-chih (高建智) adopted a delaying tactic by adjourning the decision.
KMT lawmakers chanted that the government intended to enact the statutes to eradicate the KMT using the pretext of establishing a level playing field for political parties, while DPP lawmakers shouted back that "protecting stolen assets is tantamount to corruption."
Lawmakers from the two opposing camps engaged in a heated exchange of words and verbal abuse on and off throughout the duration of the committee, which was rendered idle from 9am to 5:30pm.
After the meeting was over, Ko said that the KMT didn't dare to review the statutes as its party assets were stolen, but KMT Legislator Tseng Yung-chuan (曾永權) said that the party preferred to amend the Political Party Law rather than using statutes.
Meanwhile, the Democratic Progressive Party's Chairman Yu Shyi-kun yesterday again urged the pan-blue camp to bring an end to the "political farce," referring to the pan-blue camp's boycott of the arms procurement bills and party assets bill in the Legislature.
Yu also urged KMT Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) to stop ignoring the problem of the party's stolen assets and return the money to the people if Ma really wanted to review governmental systems.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
RSS