The Executive Yuan’s reorganization scheme is not reducing budget expenses, but increasing them and is only wasting taxpayers’ money, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus said yesterday.
DPP Legislator Tsai Chi-chang (蔡其昌) said the Executive Yuan had the largest personnel expenses of the five branches of government, highlighting its public relations office as an example.
The Executive Yuan’s office has 73 positions, although only 66 are filled, compared with the 40 staffers who work for the Presidential Office’s public affairs office, the Judicial Yuan’s eight, the Control Yuan’s four and the Examination Yuan’s six, Tsai said.
It was “illogical and ridiculous” that the Executive Yuan is willing to spend NT$60 million (US$2 million) a year on public relations — even though it outsources most of the work to private firms — to “defend President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration’s policies” when other departments, such as the Food and Drug Administration has just 16 official inspectors and the Consumer Protection Committee has 37 staffers, Tsai said.
We do not need so many people to flap their lips, but do nothing, Tsai said, adding that it is precisely because the Ma administration has nothing to show for its policies that it needs so many people to cover up its inadequacies.
DPP Legislator Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) said that after the Executive Yuan completes its reorganization, it would have 100 additional staff members and 40 more high ranking officials instead of decreasing its personnel numbers.
The reorganization simply gave the Executive Yuan an excuse to hand out government jobs to people who do nothing, Lee said.
DPP caucus secretary-general Wu Ping-rui (吳秉叡) said he did not see why Executive Yuan spokesperson Cheng Li-wen (鄭麗文) needed a 66-person staff.
Most of the activities overseen by the former Governmental Information Office (GIO) had been handed over to the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the National Communications Commission, Wu said.
Before the government’s reorganization, the Executive Yuan spokesperson usually doubled as the head of the GIO, which had long been considered a way for the government to retain a hold over the media.
After the GIO was disbanded, the office was renamed the Executive Yuan’s spokesperson office.
Wu called on the Ma administration to review its government reorganization plans, adding that streamlining should not make organizations more complicated or add personnel to already bloated organizations.
Cheng later responded to the DPP complaints by saying the functions of the spokesperson’s office were not the same as public relations.
It managed the distribution of news articles, the collection of media responses and photographs, compiled the Republic of China’s (ROC) yearbook in Mandarin Chinese and English, and maintained the Executive Yuan’s official Web site and Facebook page, Cheng said.
She said that since she took over the office in October last year, it had made significant adjustments to its staff allocation, and that it even though it had vacant positions, it was not accepting job applications.
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
A magnitude 4.1 earthquake struck eastern Taiwan's Hualien County at 2:23pm today, according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA). The epicenter of the temblor was 5.4 kilometers northeast of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 34.9 km, according to the CWA. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was the highest in Hualien County, where it measured 2 on Taiwan's 7-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 1 in Yilan county, Taichung, Nantou County, Changhua County and Yunlin County, the CWA said. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
‘WORSE THAN COMMUNISTS’: President William Lai has cracked down on his political enemies and has attempted to exterminate all opposition forces, the chairman said The legislature would motion for a presidential recall after May 20, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday at a protest themed “against green communists and dictatorship” in Taipei. Taiwan is supposed to be a peaceful homeland where people are united, but President William Lai (賴清德) has been polarizing and tearing apart society since his inauguration, Chu said. Lai must show his commitment to his job, otherwise a referendum could be initiated to recall him, he said. Democracy means the rule of the people, not the rule of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), but Lai has failed to fulfill his
RSS