Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers yesterday decided to postpone the review of the qualifications of four National Communications Commission (NCC) nominees until the end of the month after one of the nominees failed to provide detailed background information for review.
The four nominees are National Dong Hwa University professor Howard Shyr (石世豪), National Chiao Tung University professor Yu Hsiao-cheng (虞孝成), National Tsing Hua University professor Peng Shin-yi (彭心儀) and Integral Investment Holdings Group general manager Chen Yuan-ling (陳元玲). Shyr was nominated as the new NCC chairperson and Yu as the new NCC vice chairperson.
They are to replace NCC chairperson Su Herng (蘇蘅) and NCC vice chairperson Chen Jeng-chang (陳正倉), as well as NCC commissioners Weng Hsiao-ling (翁曉玲) and Chung Chi-hui (鍾起惠), who are scheduled to step down by the end of July.
Photo: Chu Pei-hsiung, Taipei Times
The qualifications of the four nominees were scheduled to be jointly reviewed by lawmakers serving on the legislature’s Transportation Committee and those serving on the Education and Culture Committee.
However, the meeting was boycotted by DPP legislators, who complained that Chen Yuan-ling only provided a one-page resume for review. They said it lacked adequate information to review her qualifications.
To help the lawmakers review the qualifications, the legislature looked at each nominee’s record of academic publications.
Chen Yuan-ling had never published anything. Shyr, Yu and Peng, on the other hand, each have numerous publications.
KMT lawmakers defended Chen Yuan-ling, saying that she comes from the corporate world and therefore has not published any academic work, but that was not accepted by DPP lawmakers.
DPP legislators Hsu Chih-chieh (許智傑), Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲) and Yeh Yi-jin (葉宜津) criticized the way Chen Yuan-ling presented her accomplishments as being in contempt of the legislature.
KMT Legislator Lee Hung-chun (李鴻鈞), who presided over the meeting, ruled to postpone the review session to May 28 and May 30 after all the information related to the nominees had been received.
Shyr, who was NCC vice chairperson, said that Chen Yuan-ling’s experience would complement that of the other NCC commissioners, who are academics.
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