A standoff between the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Ministry of Culture yesterday escalated after Public Television Service (PTS) chairman Hu Yuan-hui (胡元輝) was asked to leave a legislative committee meeting.
Before the session of the Education and Culture Committee began, Hu left the room at the request of KMT Legislator Lo Chih-chiang (羅智強), who said that Hu, whose term ended in May last year, was no longer PTS chair.
Amendments to the Public Television Act (公共電視法), which abolish provisions allowing PTS board members to remain in office after their terms expire, had already cleared the legislature and were promulgated by President Willaim Lai (賴清德) on Feb. 4, Lo said.
Photo: CNA
The move was not directed at Hu personally, but concerned legislative principle and respect for laws promulgated by the president, Lo said.
Outside the meeting room, Hu told reporters that because the act does not explicitly state what should happen when an outgoing board’s term expires, the Foundations Act (財團法人法) provided legal grounds for his continued tenure as chair of Taiwan’s only public broadcaster.
Article 40 of the Foundations Act states that directors shall continue performing their duties until newly appointed directors take office if replacements are not appointed “in a timely manner” after their terms expire.
Under the Public Television Act, the PTS board comprises 11 to 15 directors and three to five supervisors. All must be approved by a review committee made up of public figures nominated proportionally by legislative parties, with a two-thirds majority required for approval.
On Dec. 17 last year, the ministry announced 14 directors and five supervisor nominees, but only four director candidates were approved at the first review meeting on Dec. 31, which was insufficient to constitute the board.
On March 12, the ministry released a second list of nominees for the eighth board of directors. However, before another review meeting could be held, eight opposition-nominated members of the 15-member review committee withdrew on April 9, leaving the meeting without the quorum required to conduct the review.
They said that Minister of Culture Li Yuan (李遠) had ignored a long-standing convention followed by previous ministers of consulting all political parties on potential nominees.
Li yesterday protested Hu’s removal from the room, saying that requiring interparty negotiations to form the board would contravene the principle of keeping political parties, the government and the military out of public media.
The deadlock over the PTS board election had dragged on for too long, and all sides hoped the process could be completed as soon as possible, KMT Legislator Ko Chih-en (柯志恩) said.
She also urged Li not to become disconnected from public opinion.
“Political negotiation” can take many forms and viewing the issue in overly simplistic terms would not help resolve it, Ko said.
The Ministry of Finance this afternoon announced the winning numbers for the March-April uniform invoice lottery. The winning number for the NT$10 million (US$318,060) special prize is 19531471, and the winning number for the NT$2 million grand prize is 85941329. Three numbers were drawn for the NT$200,000 first prize: 07225810, 20231230 and 83518781. Those with receipts matching the last seven digits of any of the first-prize numbers will win the NT$40,000 second prize, while those matching the last six digits will win the NT$10,000 third prize. Those whose receipts match the last five digits of the first-prize numbers can claim the NT$4,000 fourth prize,
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