The Executive Yuan and the National Police Agency have not held an interagency public security meeting for a year, despite a mandate to convene every two months, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Johnny Chiang (江啟臣) said yesterday amid public outcry over the murder of a Malaysian student.
At a meeting of the Legislative Yuan’s Internal Administration Committee, legislators questioned Minister of the Interior Hsu Kuo-yung (徐國勇) about public security after the abduction and murder of a Chang Jung Christian University student surnamed Chung (鍾) in Tainan on Thursday last week.
Public security does not just concern law enforcement and the Ministry of the Interior, but also other agencies and local governments, Chiang said, asking Hsu when the last meeting was held.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
After Hsu said he was not sure, Chiang asked him to name the agencies tasked with attending the meeting and who is to convene them.
Chiang cut short Hsu’s reply, in which he named the Ministry of Justice, to say that the convener is the premier, the deputy convener is the vice premier and asked him who the designated chair is.
When Hsu was unable to answer, Chiang said: “The chair is you, the minister of the interior.”
The last meeting was held on Oct. 29 last year, Chiang said, adding that a food safety meeting has also not been convened for more than a year.
“What is the government doing?” he said. “Former premiers Lin Chuan (林全) and William Lai (賴清德) convened six meetings a year involving local government leaders and the minister of education.”
“Your failures are setting a bad example,” he said, adding that constant personnel changes hurt morale and keep work from getting done.
The purpose of holding interagency meetings is to get everyone on the same page, Chiang said.
Hsu promised to immediately approach the Executive Yuan to recommend convening a public security meeting.
Separately, Executive Yuan spokesman Ting Yi-ming (丁怡銘) said that the government has avoided holding large gatherings due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Agencies are still holding interdepartmental meetings at their discretion, Ting said.
Now that pandemic control measures have eased, “if there is a need to do so, we will convene large meetings,” he added.
Additional reporting by Lu Yi-hsuan
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