The Kaohsiung City Government yesterday finally said that it would take action over a riot by Thai workers in Kaohsiung on Sunday night.
The city government has been accused of dodging its responsibility by not launching an investigation of the incident immediately after it happened.
Yesterday the city administration pledged to take action against the city's mass rapid transit (MRT) company if it was found to have used inappropriate policies to regulate Thai laborers hired to build the city's subway system.
PHOTO: LIN KUO-HSIEN, TAIPEI TIMES
"We will mete out punishments to the MRT company if it is found to have violated the Employment Services Act (
Chen dismissed criticisms that the city was indifferent to the workers grievances, saying that the city's Bureau of Labor Affairs and Department of Rapid Transit Systems swiftly responded the day after the riot.
He also shrugged off speculation that his father, Chen Che-nan (
"I telephoned my father and asked him whether he was involved in the selection process of broker companies; he told me `no,'" he said.
Chen Che-nan last night issued a statement saying he has nothing to do with the affair, and should any evidence prove the contrary, he was willing to undergo "the toughest discipline" and withdraw from the political arena immediately.
Speculation abounds that a former high-ranking official at the Presidential Office peddled influence to lobby for the importation of foreign workers for the million-dollar project and received kickbacks from labor brokers.
Council of Labor Affairs (CLA) Chairwoman Chen Chu (
The incident has brought into open the fierce competition between Chen Chi-mai and Chen Chu, who have been eyeing the city's mayoral election next year.
While Chen Chu's comments raised eyebrows, Chen Chi-mai remained low-profile until yesterday when DPP caucus whip William Lai (
Lai and Chen Chu are both members of the DPP's New Tide faction. Chen Chi-mai is a member of the DPP's Justice Alliance (
Chen Chi-mai has been serving as acting city mayor since Premier Frank Hsieh (
The Kaohsiung Prosecutor's Office has launched an investigation into the matter in response to Lai's request. Lai yesterday said that he would be happy to provide any information he had to prosecutors.
In a bid to improve the Thai workers' living environment, Chen Chi-mai yesterday announced that about 500 workers would soon be relocated to the city's employment training center, where there are 170 rooms.
Personnel from a local Presbyterian church will also be deployed to help run the center.
An Aboriginal lawmaker yesterday called on the government to review its foreign labor policy and to hire indigenous labor for major government construction projects.
Aboriginal Legislator Liao Kuo-tung (
Meanwhile, Cabinet Spokesman Cho Jung-tai (
"The Kaohsiung City Government was only responsible for making sure that all the construction projects were completed on time. Nothing more and nothing less," Cho said. "Nobody had tried to talk to the premier who was then the Kaohsiung City mayor about this issue. Such a person never existed."
Critics have also lambasted Hsieh over his alleged indifference to foreign laborer' being treated like slaves. Cho said that it was not a problem of negligence.
"No foreign laborers have been complaining about the way they have been treated. That is also a fact," he said.
Additional reporting by Jimmy Chuang
Taipei and New Taipei City government officials are aiming to have the first phase of the Wanhua-Jungho-Shulin Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) line completed and opened by 2027, following the arrival of the first train set yesterday. The 22km-long Light Green Line would connect four densely populated districts in Taipei and New Taipei City: Wanhua (萬華), Jhonghe (中和), Tucheng (土城) and Shulin (樹林). The first phase of the project would connect Wanhua and Jhonghe districts, with Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall and Chukuang (莒光) being the terminal stations. The two municipalities jointly hosted a ceremony for the first train to be used
MILITARY AID: Taiwan has received a first batch of US long-range tactical missiles ahead of schedule, with a second shipment expected to be delivered by 2026 The US’ early delivery of long-range tactical ballistic missiles to Taiwan last month carries political and strategic significance, a military source said yesterday. According to the Ministry of National Defense’s budget report, the batch of military hardware from the US, including 11 sets of M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) and 64 MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile Systems, had been scheduled to be delivered to Taiwan between the end of this year and the beginning of next year. However, the first batch arrived last month, earlier than scheduled, with the second batch —18 sets of HIMARS, 20 MGM-140 missiles and 864 M30
Representative to the US Alexander Yui delivered a letter from the government to US president-elect Donald Trump during a meeting with a former Trump administration official, CNN reported yesterday. Yui on Thursday met with former US national security adviser Robert O’Brien over a private lunch in Salt Lake City, Utah, with US Representative Chris Stewart, the Web site of the US cable news channel reported, citing three sources familiar with the matter. “During that lunch the letter was passed along, and then shared with Trump, two of the sources said,” CNN said. O’Brien declined to comment on the lunch, as did the Taipei
A woman who allegedly attacked a high-school student with a utility knife, injuring his face, on a Taipei metro train late on Friday has been transferred to prosecutors, police said yesterday. The incident occurred near MRT Xinpu Station at about 10:17pm on a Bannan Line train headed toward Dingpu, New Taipei City police said. Before police arrived at the station to arrest the suspect, a woman surnamed Wang (王) who is in her early 40s, she had already been subdued by four male passengers, one of whom was an off-duty Taipei police officer, police said. The student, 17, who sustained a cut about
RSS