Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Hsueh Ling (
Hsueh said she would resign if the bribery accusation was confirmed.
With the by-election for the DPP's chairperson taking place on Sunday, rumors and hate mail have been spreading with growing intensity among grassroots DPP members.
One rumor said that Chen Sheng-hung (陳勝宏), a member of the DPP's central standing committee, and Hsueh, his wife, have paid the annual party fees for employees of Sunny Bank (陽信銀行) -- which is run by the Chens -- and have asked their employees to vote for their favored candidate, Legislator Chai Trong-rong (蔡同榮), for chairperson.
Chen, who is also the convener of the Green Alliance, and Hsueh were also said to be attempting to influence the outcome of the by-election through voting-buying to secure their position in the DPP.
Hsueh and Chen were furious about the rumors and rushed to DPP headquarters yesterday at noon to protest.
"I think it is shameful for some people to blacken our names by spreading such a rumor," Hsueh said yesterday.
Later in the afternoon, when Lu walked out of the weekly central standing committee, Hsueh blocked her path and pleaded with the acting chairwoman to investigate the incident and find out who was behind the rumor.
Facing reporters' inquiries and Hsueh's pleas, Lu said that paying the annual fees of other members wasn't a problem, because to be eligible to vote in the by-election, members have to have paid their fees before Oct. 17 last year.
"Therefore, I do not think the recent rumor makes any sense," Lu said, asking Hsueh to offer an explanation.
"The DPP has adopted high moral standards in every election and I hope we take the same attitude in this by-election," Hsueh said. "If I have bought votes for Tsai or anyone, I will immediately resign from my position as a legislator-at-large."
At a news conference held after the central standing committee, DPP Secretary-General Lee Yi-yang (
"Although the DPP encourages party members to hand in their annual fees for themselves, it is not against party regulations for certain members to help other members retain their membership," Lee said.
On reforming the problem of so-called "nominal" party members -- meaning members whose memberships have been paid by other DPP members -- central standing committee member Cheng Po-ching (
Cheng's proposal obtained the support of some other members.
Meanwhile, Lu announced that party's new committee against corruption will start investigating four cases reported by the public but that the DPP will not publicize the process until the cases are closed.
The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) and Chunghwa Telecom yesterday confirmed that an international undersea cable near Keelung Harbor had been cut by a Chinese ship, the Shunxin-39, a freighter registered in Cameroon. Chunghwa Telecom said the cable had its own backup equipment, and the incident would not affect telecommunications within Taiwan. The CGA said it dispatched a ship under its first fleet after receiving word of the incident and located the Shunxin-39 7 nautical miles (13km) north of Yehliu (野柳) at about 4:40pm on Friday. The CGA demanded that the Shunxin-39 return to seas closer to Keelung Harbor for investigation over the
National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology (NKUST) yesterday promised it would increase oversight of use of Chinese in course materials, following a social media outcry over instances of simplified Chinese characters being used, including in a final exam. People on Threads wrote that simplified Chinese characters were used on a final exam and in a textbook for a translation course at the university, while the business card of a professor bore the words: “Taiwan Province, China.” Photographs of the exam, the textbook and the business card were posted with the comments. NKUST said that other members of the faculty did not see
An apartment building in New Taipei City’s Sanchong District (三重) collapsed last night after a nearby construction project earlier in the day allegedly caused it to tilt. Shortly after work began at 9am on an ongoing excavation of a construction site on Liuzhang Street (六張街), two neighboring apartment buildings tilted and cracked, leading to exterior tiles peeling off, city officials said. The fire department then dispatched personnel to help evacuate 22 residents from nine households. After the incident, the city government first filled the building at No. 190, which appeared to be more badly affected, with water to stabilize the
EARTHQUAKE: Taipei and New Taipei City accused a construction company of ignoring the Circular MRT’s original design, causing sections to shift by up to 92cm The Taipei and New Taipei City governments yesterday said they would seek NT$1.93 billion (US$58.6 million) in compensation from the company responsible for building the Circular MRT Line, following damage sustained during an earthquake in April last year that had shuttered a section for months. BES Engineering Corp, a listed company under Core Pacific Group, was accused of ignoring the original design when constructing the MRT line, resulting in negative shear strength resistance and causing sections of the rail line between Jhonghe (中和) and Banciao (板橋) districts to shift by up to 92cm during the April 3 earthquake. The pot bearings on
RSS