Dozens of netizens vented their anger yesterday over what they said was President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) “cold-blooded political persecution” of Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) through “illegal, unconstitutional and inhumane” means, with some launching an online signature drive demanding the president’s immediate resignation.
The initiator of the signature drive, who identified himself as a swing voter, said that demanding Ma’s resignation was the “obligation and responsibility of every Taiwanese who loves this country and has a good sense of judgement of what is right and wrong, and of shame.”
“To take down his political enemies, Ma, despite being the head of state of this country, has resorted to illegal, unconstitutional and inhumane tactics and stepped beyond the mandate bestowed upon him by the Constitution by wiretapping the legislative speaker [Wang] and the leader of the opposition party caucus [Democratic Progressive Party caucus convener Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘)],” the petition read.
Not only has the president tried to justify his illegitimate conduct, he has also used information obtained during the illegal wiretap operation to carry out a political vendetta against Wang and used his subjective judgement to unilaterally declare Wang guilty, the signature drive said.
“Ma’s behavior is the biggest disgrace to Taiwan’s democratic development and we [the public] must ask him to step down before the nation sinks into an indefinite period of darkness,” the petition said.
The petition had received backing from nearly 16,000 netizens as of press time.
Meanwhile, other Internet users also criticized Ma for reportedly saying that Wang should be stripped of his Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) membership for “tarnishing the party’s image and reputation” during a meeting of the KMT’s 15-member Disciplinary Committee held yesterday to discuss Wang’s fate.
The meeting reached a consensus to revoke Wang’s membership after deliberating for two hours and 20 minutes.
Sources say Ma, who is KMT chairman, was choked with tears as he made a 10-minute speech at the committee meeting, in which he said he was “too saddened by Wang’s involvement in illegal lobbying to be able to sleep.”
The legislative speaker is embroiled in an alleged influence-peddling case involving several prominent political figures, including Ker and former minister of justice Tseng Yung-fu (曾勇夫), who resigned on Friday last week over the matter.
“It’s obvious that Ma has been trying to take down Wang since the very beginning. He [Ma] is such a hypocrite,” one netizen wrote.
Another said maybe it was the overwhelming joy of finally being able to remove Wang that had been keeping Ma up at night.
Some netizens also ridiculed the president for his unusually tough stance on the incident, saying that it seemed as if he was only capable of and passionate about launching political vendetta, instead of handling economic problems as he is supposed to.
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-wong effective from 5:30pm, while local governments canceled school and work for tomorrow. A land warning is expected to be issued tomorrow morning before it is expected to make landfall on Wednesday, the agency said. Taoyuan, and well as Yilan, Hualien and Penghu counties canceled work and school for tomorrow, as well as mountainous district of Taipei and New Taipei City. For updated information on closures, please visit the Directorate-General of Personnel Administration Web site. As of 5pm today, Fung-wong was about 490km south-southwest of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan's southernmost point.
A magnitude 5.3 earthquake struck Kaohsiung at 1pm today, the Central Weather Administration said. The epicenter was in Jiasian District (甲仙), 72.1km north-northeast of Kaohsiung City Hall, at a depth of 7.8km, agency data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effects of a temblor, was highest in Kaohsiung and Tainan, where it measured a 4 on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale. It also measured a 3 in parts of Chiayi City, as well as Pingtung, Yunlin and Hualien counties, data showed.
Nearly 5 million people have signed up to receive the government’s NT$10,000 (US$322) universal cash handout since registration opened on Wednesday last week, with deposits expected to begin tomorrow, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. After a staggered sign-up last week — based on the final digit of the applicant’s national ID or Alien Resident Certificate number — online registration is open to all eligible Taiwanese nationals, foreign permanent residents and spouses of Taiwanese nationals. Banks are expected to start issuing deposits from 6pm today, the ministry said. Those who completed registration by yesterday are expected to receive their NT$10,000 tomorrow, National Treasury
Taiwan next year plans to launch its first nationwide census on elderly people living independently to identify the estimated 700,000 seniors to strengthen community-based healthcare and long-term care services, the Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW) said yesterday. Minister of Health and Welfare Shih Chung-liang (石崇良) said on the sidelines of a healthcare seminar that the nation’s rapidly aging population and declining birthrate have made the issue of elderly people living alone increasingly pressing. The survey, to be jointly conducted by the MOHW and the Ministry of the Interior, aims to establish baseline data and better allocate care resources, he
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