Premier Yu Shyi-kun yesterday ordered the Ministry of Justice to crack down on vote-buying in the upcoming by-election for the Kaohsiung City Council, after the Kaohsiung Prosecutor's Office arrested seven bribery suspects Tuesday night.
"Premier Yu ordered law enforcement agencies to keep a close watch for vote-buying on the eve of the by-election, in order to demonstrate the government's determination to eradicate the perennial scourge of `black gold,'" Cabinet Spokesman Chen Chi-mai (
Chen said that Yu had directed authorities to clamp down on suspected bribery cases quickly and severely -- so long as there was sufficient evidence -- regardless of the criminals' status or political party.
Despite the relaxed election campaign, the Kaohsiung anti-vote-buying task force has received reports of more than 30 cases of vote-buying, and four local vote captains and three voters have already confessed to accepting bribes as of Tuesday night.
Two of the suspects admitted that they had been offered between NT$500 to NT$1,000 for their ballots, while a vote captain was caught with a list of names of suspected bribe-takers. The task force is now attempting to determine if it was the candidates that were trying to grease the palms of voters, or simply overly enthusiastic vote captains.
The by-election on Saturday is being held to replace the 18 former councilors who lost their seats for accepting bribes in last December's council speaker election, which is the largest scandal in Taiwan's election history for a municipal government.
Chu An-hsiung (
The Southern Taiwan Society yesterday said that the local vote captains were still trying to buy votes because the punishment for bribery is so minor that no one is intimidated.
In a press release, the society asked the Ministry of Justice to revise the law and strengthen the punishment for bribery to uproot the inveterate vote-buying culture.
In the by-election, 47 candidates will contend for the 18 city councilor seats. However, 11 of the candidates are family members of the city councilors who were ousted, mostly the wives or daughters of dismissed councilors.
For example, Chu's daughter, Chu Ting-shan (
As the DPP's campaign mastermind, Kaohsiung Mayor Frank Hsieh (
"I think the scandal surrounding the Kaohsiung City Council speaker election was the tip of the iceberg among the city councils around the country," Hsieh said. "However, the by-election is also a necessary labor pain in the development of Taiwan's democracy."
"It might be good for Kaohsiung City to be the first to tear off its scab," Hsieh said.
Hsieh predicted that the pan-green camp has a great chance of winning more than half the seats in the by-election, as long as the DPP's campaign momentum is maintained and vote-buying is effectively prevented by the law enforcement agencies.
"I expect this by-election will renovate Kaoshoung's election culture, and set an example for other cities," Hsieh said.
ENDEAVOR MANTA: The ship is programmed to automatically return to its designated home port and would self-destruct if seized by another party The Endeavor Manta, Taiwan’s first military-specification uncrewed surface vehicle (USV) tailor-made to operate in the Taiwan Strait in a bid to bolster the nation’s asymmetric combat capabilities made its first appearance at Kaohsiung’s Singda Harbor yesterday. Taking inspiration from Ukraine’s navy, which is using USVs to force Russia’s Black Sea fleet to take shelter within its own ports, CSBC Taiwan (台灣國際造船) established a research and development unit on USVs last year, CSBC chairman Huang Cheng-hung (黃正弘) said. With the exception of the satellite guidance system and the outboard motors — which were purchased from foreign companies that were not affiliated with Chinese-funded
PERMIT REVOKED: The influencer at a news conference said the National Immigration Agency was infringing on human rights and persecuting Chinese spouses Chinese influencer “Yaya in Taiwan” (亞亞在台灣) yesterday evening voluntarily left Taiwan, despite saying yesterday morning that she had “no intention” of leaving after her residence permit was revoked over her comments on Taiwan being “unified” with China by military force. The Ministry of the Interior yesterday had said that it could forcibly deport the influencer at midnight, but was considering taking a more flexible approach and beginning procedures this morning. The influencer, whose given name is Liu Zhenya (劉振亞), departed on a 8:45pm flight from Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) to Fuzhou, China. Liu held a news conference at the airport at 7pm,
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
RSS