The word hui (毀, “destroy”) was chosen as this year’s word representing the legislature, Citizen Congress Watch (CCW) said yesterday.
“We see the partisan political fighting by legislators, very low productivity and efficiency in legislative meetings and stalling approval for next year’s operating budget for the central government,” CCW director Hsieh Tung-ju (謝東儒) said during a news conference outside the legislature in Taipei yesterday.
The CCW invited hundreds of citizens to the yearly vote to choose a word to represent the Legislative Yuan, and the word “destroy” was chosen with 51 percent of votes, owing to actions by opposition parties to kneecap the smooth functioning of government and wear away Taiwan’s democratic resiliency, Hsieh said.
Photo: Tu Chien-jung, Taipei Times
The runner-up was shen (滲, “infiltration”), receiving 43 percent of votes.
“People are worried about infiltration of enemy state agents and proxies into the legislature to endanger national security and undermine Taiwanese sovereignty,” Hsieh said. “China has sought to infiltrate Taiwan’s military and political circles, using money to recruit informants. The legislative offices are full of leaks, with a number of legislative aides caught stealing and passing secrets to China,” he added.
“The opposition parties are doing everything to deny funds for the special defense budget, impede passage of bills to enhance national security, and propose amendments to decriminalize corruption and unauthorized use of state subsidies. All these actions conspire to open the doors for the enemy state Chinese forces to operate more easily in Taiwan,” Hsieh added.
Union of Taiwanese Teachers vice chair Pan Wei-you (潘威佑) said: “Most citizens are disappointed and upset at the opposition parties’ collusion to hobble the legislature’s deliberation and review process, and they have even contrived to introduce a motion to impeach the president, a form of political intimidation.”
“People have chosen the representative word ‘destroy,’ because they are alarmed at the malevolent forces inside the legislature, working toward the destruction of Taiwan’s democracy... Citizens are issuing a warning that they’re seeing the negative effects on Taiwan’s national security,” Pan added.
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