Council for Cultural Affairs minister Emile Sheng (盛治仁) has resigned after outrage mounted over a decision to spend NT$215 million (US$7.1 million) of public money on a rock musical that was only staged twice, Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) said yesterday.
Sheng came under fire after the council staged Dreamers (夢想家), a big-budget musical that told the stories of young people and their dreams that led to the Xinhai Revolution and the Republic of China’s (ROC) establishment, as part of the nation’s centennial celebrations last month.
The opposition accused Sheng of wasting public funds on an overly expensive production and of favoring the director of the show during bidding, and called for an investigation. Sheng’s troubles deepened after a group of artists and directors launched an online petition demanding he quit.
Photo: Hu Shun-hsiang, Taipei Times
Wu said Sheng had repeatedly offered to resign and he finally accepted it on Thursday night.
Wu said he did not know the show had such a high budget and that he regretted the money was spent in that way.
Dreamers was different from other shows because it was a headlining event of the centennial celebrations, which would not have been completed without numerous technical personnel, actors and sets, he said.
“However, I know that some art groups often have difficulties getting grants from governments, even just small amounts of NT$150,000 or NT$200,000,” he added.
Sheng’s resignation was accepted because it has caused dissatisfaction among other artists, which would have made it difficult for him to implement policies, Wu said, adding that Sheng’s position would be temporarily filled by the council’s deputy minister, Lee Jen-fang (李仁芳).
Sheng told a press conference that he had acted with integrity. He added that he regretted the controversy over Dreamers.
“I also need to reflect on myself because I failed to consider public opinion on the budget spent on a large-scale event, as the budget allocation for culture is already limited,” he said. “I would like to apologize if I fell short of public expectations.”
At a separate setting, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said he agreed with Sheng’s decision to resign.
“The musical cost too much money and is perceived negatively by the public. I agree that he should have stepped down,” he said in an interview with the ETTV.
Ma, seeking re-election in January, dismissed allegations that Sheng offered his resignation under pressure from the Cabinet to prevent the incident from affecting the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) performance in the upcoming presidential and legislative election. He said any Cabinet official could be replaced any time.
KMT spokesperson Lai Su-ju (賴素如) defended Sheng, saying he was a responsible official and he resigned to prevent the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) from manipulating the issue.
However, the DPP said Sheng’s resignation alone “does not help the public find out the truth.”
“The suspicions surrounding the production of the musical are just the tip of the iceberg,” DPP spokesperson Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) said. “Sheng still has not explained why a musical that could be done for NT$2 million cost more than NT$200 million and why tenders for the production of the musical had to be conducted as restricted bids.”
“The ROC Centenary Foundation in charge of the musical production and other centenary celebration activities might have been involved in more scandals and the judicial authority has to look into it,” he added.
The DPP has filed a lawsuit against Sheng for allegedly favoring certain performance companies and individuals in the bidding for the staging of the musical.
Saying the production of Dreamers not only wasted money, but that it also involved corruption, Chen called on the Ma administration not to intervene in the case.
Additional reporting by Mo Yan-chih and AFP
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 —
Taiwan was ranked the fourth-safest country in the world with a score of 82.9, trailing only Andorra, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in Numbeo’s Safety Index by Country report. Taiwan’s score improved by 0.1 points compared with last year’s mid-year report, which had Taiwan fourth with a score of 82.8. However, both scores were lower than in last year’s first review, when Taiwan scored 83.3, and are a long way from when Taiwan was named the second-safest country in the world in 2021, scoring 84.8. Taiwan ranked higher than Singapore in ninth with a score of 77.4 and Japan in 10th with
SECURITY RISK: If there is a conflict between China and Taiwan, ‘there would likely be significant consequences to global economic and security interests,’ it said China remains the top military and cyber threat to the US and continues to make progress on capabilities to seize Taiwan, a report by US intelligence agencies said on Tuesday. The report provides an overview of the “collective insights” of top US intelligence agencies about the security threats to the US posed by foreign nations and criminal organizations. In its Annual Threat Assessment, the agencies divided threats facing the US into two broad categories, “nonstate transnational criminals and terrorists” and “major state actors,” with China, Russia, Iran and North Korea named. Of those countries, “China presents the most comprehensive and robust military threat
RSS