Tue, Dec 21, 2004 page1

• Nominations for Control Yuan hit by `rewards' flak

  GREAT EXPECTATIONS The threat of a pan-blue veto in the legislature is bad enough news for the president, but even his own party is dissatisfied

  • By Jewel Huang / STAFF REPORTER
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  The Presidential Office's list of 29 nominees for positions in the Control Yuan attracted criticism yesterday from both the pan-blue and pan-green camps as lawmakers questioned the qualifications of nominees and alleged they were receiving "political rewards."

  Presidential Office Secretary-General Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) yesterday morning announced the list of nominees -- including for Control Yuan president and vice president -- ratified by President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁).

  Chen nominated senior presidential advisor Clement Chang (張建邦) as president of the Control Yuan and national policy advisor to the president Michael Hsiao (蕭新煌) as vice president.

  Chang, 75, is a member of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and founder of Tamkang University. Chang served as speaker of the Taipei City Council from 1981 to 1989 and was minister of transportation and communications from 1989 to 1991.

  Hsiao is a professor of sociology and a senior academic at the Academia Sinica.

  Six other nominees are incumbent Control Yuan members, while eight nominees are serving or former legislators. Eight of the nominees are women.

  Conspicuously, Broadcasting Corp of China (BCC) chairman Chao Shou-po (趙守博), one of the nomination hopefuls, did not end up on the list. KMT member and women's rights activist Yeh Ching-fong (葉金鳳), was nominated, however.

  "It is a beautiful list of names," Su said, adding that he hoped the legislature would review and pass the nominations as soon as possible.

  Some have challenged Chang's qualifications in light of his resignation in 1991 as minister of transportation and communications following the Hualon Corp financial scandal.

  But Su defended Chang and his qualifications, saying the courts had cleared Chang of any involvement in the Hualon case and that Chang had been "wronged."

  "Chang's nomination was in no way a `political reward,'" Su said.

  "Chang has considerable experience in politics and is lucid in his thinking. I don't think Chang's age is a problem and his health is in good condition as far as I know," he said.

  However, lawmakers from the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) criticized the nominations, saying that the list was for "political rewards" and that the nominees did not meet the public's expectations.

  "I don't think the whole slate can reflect the expectations of the public," DPP Legislator Lee Wen-chung (李文忠) said yesterday, claiming that some of the nominees had close connections with local factions, which did not accord with the criteria for determining Control Yuan membership.

  "I suggest that our caucus should not force us to support all of the nominees on the back of party discipline and instead allow us to make up our own mind when voting," Lee said.

  Outgoing DPP Legislator Shen Fu-hsiung (沈富雄) said that Chang was not an ideal candidate for the presidency of the Control Yuan, and he called on the Presidential Office to explain why Chang was nominated.

  "Chang is neither an impressive nor a suitable candidate. Can't the president find a better candidate?" Shen asked.

  TSU caucus whip Huang Chung-yuan (黃宗源) also voiced opposition to the nomination. "If the president of the Control Yuan has to be a member of the pan-blue camp, I think former premier Vincent Siew (蕭萬長) is more suitable

  than Chang in terms of the expectations of society."

  "Hsiao fits the presidency better than Chang," Huang added. "But I think President Chen should disregard the consideration of political parties in nominating Control Yuan members."

  Huang expressed disappointment that former TSU Legislator Cheng Cheng-lung (程振隆) had not been nominated, saying Cheng is more professional than TSU secretary-general Lin Chih-chia (林志嘉), who was nominated by Chen as one

  of the Control Yuan member.

  Meanwhile, in response to threats from the pan-blue camp of vetoing the nominations in the legislature, DPP caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) yesterday urged opposition lawmakers to deal with the issue rationally and not exacerbate confrontation with the government.

  "The [Legislative Yuan's] approval of nominations for the Control Yuan is supposed to be a new beginning for dialogue between the ruling party and the opposition parties," Ker said during a news conference. "The KMT and the People First Party are threatening to return the list of nominations prior to it being sent to the Legislative Yuan, which is unreasonable and unconstitutional."

  "It will cause the biggest constitutional crisis in our history if the pan-blue camp continues to prohibit its legislators from exercising their right to give approval, as they have done in the past," Ker said.

  Ker said that before the elections, Chen promised to nominate a non-DPP member for president of the Control Yuan and had invited the pan-blue camp to recommend candidates. Yet the pan-blue camp had ignored the offer, he said.

  "It doesn't make any sense to veto this with the excuse that the president does not respect the opposition parties," Ker said.

  Also see story:

  Blues slam Control Yuan picks
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