The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday returned three piggy banks to three-year-old triplets in Greater Tainan after the Control Yuan warned the political donations were in violation of electoral laws.
The three children, guided by their mother and grandfather, “donated” their piggy banks to DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) during a rally the party’s presidential candidate held in Greater Tainan on Oct. 9.
Control Yuan officials recently told the accounting department of Tsai’s campaign office by telephone that the agency would launch an investigation into her campaign’s acceptance of donations from children, which is a violation of the Political Donations Act (政治獻金法), DPP spokesman Lin Chun-hsien (林俊憲) told a press conference yesterday.
Photo: Wang Chun-chung, Taipei Times
Individuals under voting age or who cannot vote are legally barred from making political donations.
The DPP’s campaign office has received donations from several teenagers who are not eligible to vote and the party would do its best to return the donations, Lin said.
However, Lin said the Control Yuan had neglected the “human side of elections,” adding that the agency had become a “hired thug” of President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) re-election campaign.
The DPP has filed complaints with the Control Yuan over several violations of administrative neutrality, including alleged illegal campaigning by Council of Agricultural Affairs Minister Chen Wu-hsiung (陳武雄) and Minister of Justice Tseng Yung-fu (曾勇夫), Lin said.
Tseng suggested that a DPP candidate was involved in vote-buying, but the complaints were all dismissed, Lin said.
“Those cases are the ones the Control Yuan should be working on,” he said.
Lin returned the donations to the family in Greater Tainan yesterday afternoon on behalf of Tsai.
The triplets’ grandfather, who is reportedly an avid supporter of Tsai, was quoted as saying that the children wanted to make the donation and that they had donated NT$30,000 to Tsai’s campaign.
“I really don’t think [the Control Yuan] should make a big deal out of this,” he said.
In response, Hsieh Sung-chih (謝松枝), director of the Control Yuan’s Public Functionary Assets Disclosure Department, said the agency had simply given the DPP a “friendly reminder” that accepting funds from people without the right to vote was in violation of Article 7 of the act.
The Control Yuan did not really intend to investigate the case, Hsieh said.
“It’s not a problem, as long as the DPP gives it back to the donors within a month,” he said.
Additional reporting by Shih Hsiu-chuan
It took director Chong Keat Aun (張吉安) nearly a decade to complete Snow in Midsummer (五月雪), a deft chronicle of Malaysia’s May 13 incident told through one woman’s search for her brother and father. Although only his second feature, it led the field at yesterday’s Golden Horse Awards with nine nominations. Chong said it had been a struggle to get people to share their memories of the intercommunal violence following the 1969 national election, known among the country’s ethnic Chinese community as “513.” “My father, for example, would shut the conversation down if my mother or grandma even mentioned the topic,” Chong said
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday said that a surge in respiratory illnesses in China has been caused by at least seven types of pathogens, and small children, elderly people and immunocompromised people should temporarily avoid unnecessary visits to China. The recent outbreak of respiratory illnesses in China is mainly in the north and among children, CDC Deputy Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞) said on Monday. Data released by the Chinese National Health Commission on Sunday showed that among children aged one to four, the main pathogens were influenza viruses and rhinoviruses, while among children aged five to 14, the main pathogens
A new poll of Taiwanese voters found the top opposition candidate for president jumping past the ruling party’s hopeful into the lead position ahead of January’s election — the latest twist in a drama-filled race. Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) presidential candidate Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) had an approval rating of 31.9 percent versus 29.2 percent for the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) presidential candidate Vice President William Lai (賴清德), the poll released yesterday by the Taiwanese Public Opinion Foundation showed. The Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) presidential candidate, New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜), ranked third with 23.6 percent, according to the survey conducted
A New Taipei City hotpot restaurant could be fined after a rat dropped from the ceiling and landed on a customer’s plate last week, the New Taipei City Department of Health said yesterday after conducting an inspection. A woman recently posted on the “I am a Banciao resident” (我是板橋人) social media group saying that she had been eating with a friend at Chien Tu Shabu Shabu Hotpot Restaurant’s Shuangshi B branch in Banciao District (板橋). “While still eating, a big rat suddenly dropped down from the ceiling, landing on a plate next to a hotpot,” she said. “Later on, a member of
RSS