Lawmakers yesterday reviewed the final group of Examination Yuan nominees ahead of today’s vote on the nomination list.
The nominees for president and vice president were reviewed on Tuesday, and nine Examination Yuan members who were renominated were reviewed on Wednesday. Yesterday’s vetting process covered 10 first-time nominees.
Much attention was again paid to the political ties some nominees have with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT).
Photo: CNA
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Tsai Chi-chang (蔡其昌) said that as seven of the 21 nominees are KMT members, the public might think the institution, which is supposed to be politically neutral, is not trustworthy enough to handle oversight of civil servants.
Tsai asked the seven KMT members whether they would drop their party membership if they became Examination Yuan members.
National Chiao Tung University professor Feng Cheng-min (馮正民) said he would not participate in any party business or election campaigns if his nomination was approved.
However, National Taiwan University political science professor Shiau Chyuan-jenq (蕭全政) told Tsai that affiliation with a certain political party have to do with an individual’s “political beliefs,” which in turn is “a person’s basic right, and one should not be forced to give up his belief upon becoming an Examination Yuan member.”
Shiau later said he would quit as a member of a KMT think tank committee if his nomination was approved, but added that political parties around the world have think tanks.
“The DPP has more think tanks than the KMT. [Working at a think tank] should not be politicized,” Shiau said.
Other DPP lawmakers questioned what they said were the controversial backgrounds and actions of some of the nominees.
DPP Legislator Tien Chiu-chin (田秋堇) said that Chou Chih-lung (周志龍), who used to be a member of the Taoyuan Aerotropolis project review committee, once responded apathetically to a petition from a resident who would be affected by the project, and was seeking to protect her home from land expropriation.
According to Tien, Chou replied that “people would wonder why this particular house is preserved while strolling through the area… It is that simple. Why can’t you think it through?”
DPP Legislator Tuan Yi-kang (段宜康) said 81 percent of civil servants who received top merit awards in the past three years were police officers.
Tuan questioned former Taipei City police commissioner Hsieh Hsiu-neng’s (謝秀能) qualification to be an Examination Yuan member, saying Hsieh had received high-level merits simply as a result of “maintaining social order” during public events, including the April 19 antinuclear protest this year.
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