Legislative Speaker You Si-kun (游錫堃) has instructed the legislature’s Department of General Affairs to establish a committee on the relocation of the legislative branch, Legislative Yuan Secretary-General Lin Jih-jia (林志嘉) said on Thursday.
Lin quoted You as saying that the legislature should not meet new ideas with inaction, referring to independent Legislator Freddy Lim’s (林昶佐) proposal to relocate the branch to the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall in Taipei, while others suggested Taichung’s Wurih District (烏日) or Chenggong Ling (成功嶺) military training base.
Lin made the comment in response to a question by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lee Kuei-min (李貴敏) during a Judiciary and Organic Laws and Statutes Committee meeting, which was to review the legislature’s fiscal budget for next year.
The Legislative Yuan has since 1960 been housed in a former dormitory of what was the Taipei Second Girls’ Senior High School during the nation’s Japanese colonial period.
The building is leased to the legislature by the Taipei City Government and many of its adjunct buildings are of historical significance, posing a problem for potential expansions.
Many proposals have been brought forward over the past decades, but concrete steps have not been taken.
Lin said that while it was only a first step, he hopes that the committee would produce a viable relocation plan.
Asked by Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Tsai Yi-yu (蔡易餘) about his personal opinion on the issue, Lin said he believes that relocating the legislature would underscore its importance.
Lin said he hopes that the relocation could be completed by the end of this legislative term or that at least the legislature could come to a decision on the matter.
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