Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Tuan Yi-kang (段宜康) said that legislative reforms drawn up by the party should include the legislature’s bureaucratic system.
The DPP, which holds a majority in the legislature, has drawn up reform plans, such as creating a committee-centered legislature, broadcasting legislative sessions live on TV, allowing the public to watch cross-party negotiations online and barring the Procedure Committee from blocking legislative proposals.
However, Tuan said that in addition to the reforms related to legislators, the bureaucratic system also needs to be changed.
“[Former legislative secretary-general] Lin Hsi-shan (林錫山) served in the position for 17 years and the Information Technology Department is not the only department that has problems,” Tuan wrote on Facebook. “How were high-ranking staff members promoted during the tenures of [former legislative speaker] Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) and Lin? How were people hired? I wonder if the newly sworn-in speaker, deputy speaker and secretary-general have heard the rumors about irregularities in human resources,” Tuan wrote.
Tuan said there are institutions within the legislature, such as the legislative museum and service centers in central and southern Taiwan, that have no function other than employing a group of people who do nothing at all, adding: “Is is possible to abolish these institutions?”
While lawmakers are busy preparing the draft bills that aim to reform the legislature, the speaker, the deputy speaker and the secretary-general should also do their parts, Tuan said.
“It is a part of transitional justice to bring about changes to the bureaucratic system in the Legislative Yuan after Wang and Lin stepped down as legislative speaker and secretary-general,” Tuan said.
Tuan’s suggestion drew mostly positive responses from Internet users, with many of them expressing surprise over finding out that there is a legislative museum, while others said they expect that a DPP with an absolute majority might realize the reforms it plans to carry out.
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