The election of legislators with criminal or gangster backgrounds, or massive conflicts of interest as chairmen of the legislature's 12 standing committees has become a ritual of every legislative session; yesterdays elections for committee chairmen were no exception.
Independent lawmaker Yen Ching-piao (顏清標), who forfeited his convener's seat on the Economics and Energy Committee in the last session to calm an outcry over his business ties, managed to obtain the berth again.
Yen, convicted last year by a trial court of corruption, attempted murder and obstruction of justice, owns several quarrying companies in the region.
The Ministry of Economics Affairs is the highest regulatory agency on the nation's rivers and riverbeds where quarrying operations are carried out.
Last October, DPP lawmaker Su Chih-fen (蘇治芬) told a news conference that some of her colleagues, whose identities she refused to reveal, were behind illegal quarrying operations in central Taiwan.
Meanwhile DPP lawmaker Lin Wen-lang (林文郎) and PFP colleague Chen Chih-bin (陳志彬) were both elected as the conveners of the Finance Committee despite their deep involvement in the securities industry.
The committee, normally the most popular, is responsible for supervising the Ministry of Finance. Allegations abound that over the years Committee members have sought to pressure the ministry to adopt measures favorable to their portfolios as well as that of their family and friends.
After election, Lin and Chen said they would soon sever their business ties but offered no guarantee as how they would make good on their pledge.
There are three conveners for each of the standing committees. As they wield substantial influence over legislation by controlling the agenda of committee meetings, their opinions carry great weight with policy planners, whose agency falls under the oversight of the corresponding committee.
One of the most notorious beneficiaries of the committee chairmanship system in recent years has been former independent lawmaker Lo Fu-chu (羅福助), a convicted gangster who owns Tashin Securities, and is widely believed to have used his position on the committee to engage in many financial irregularities.
In line with cross-party agreements, the DPP won 13 convener seats; the KMT 10 seats; the PFP 8 seats; and the Non-Partisan Alliance two seats.
NO WORK, CLASS: President William Lai urged people in the eastern, southern and northern parts of the country to be on alert, with Typhoon Kong-rey approaching Typhoon Kong-rey is expected to make landfall on Taiwan’s east coast today, with work and classes canceled nationwide. Packing gusts of nearly 300kph, the storm yesterday intensified into a typhoon and was expected to gain even more strength before hitting Taitung County, the US Navy’s Joint Typhoon Warning Center said. The storm is forecast to cross Taiwan’s south, enter the Taiwan Strait and head toward China, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The CWA labeled the storm a “strong typhoon,” the most powerful on its scale. Up to 1.2m of rainfall was expected in mountainous areas of eastern Taiwan and destructive winds are likely
KONG-REY: A woman was killed in a vehicle hit by a tree, while 205 people were injured as the storm moved across the nation and entered the Taiwan Strait Typhoon Kong-rey slammed into Taiwan yesterday as one of the biggest storms to hit the nation in decades, whipping up 10m waves, triggering floods and claiming at least one life. Kong-rey made landfall in Taitung County’s Chenggong Township (成功) at 1:40pm, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The typhoon — the first in Taiwan’s history to make landfall after mid-October — was moving north-northwest at 21kph when it hit land, CWA data showed. The fast-moving storm was packing maximum sustained winds of 184kph, with gusts of up to 227kph, CWA data showed. It was the same strength as Typhoon Gaemi, which was the most
Air and rail traffic around Taiwan were disrupted today while power cuts occurred across the country as Typhoon Kong-rey, predicted to make landfall in eastern Taiwan this afternoon, continued edging closer to the country. A total of 241 passenger and cargo flights departing from or arriving at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport were canceled today due to the typhoon, Taoyuan International Airport Corp said. As of 9:30am, 109 inbound flights, 103 outbound flights and 29 cargo flights had been canceled, the company said. Taiwan Railway Corp also canceled all express trains on its Western Trunk Line, Eastern Trunk Line, South-Link Line and attached branches
Typhoon Kong-rey is forecast to make landfall in eastern Taiwan this afternoon and would move out to sea sometime overnight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 9am today, Kong-rey's outer rim was covering most of Taiwan except for the north. The storm's center was 110km east of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan's southernmost tip, and moving northwest at 28kph. It was carrying maximum sustained winds near its center of 184kph, and gusts of up to 227kph, the CWA said. At a news conference this morning, CWA forecaster Chu Mei-lin (朱美霖) said Kong-rey is moving "extremely fast," and is expected to make landfall between
RSS