A pan-green legislator was under fire yesterday after he used his position to engineer revenge on a low-ranking Customs official who wouldn't let the lawmaker bring more than the maximum allowable number of cigarettes into Taiwan.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairman Yu Shyi-kun yesterday called for his party's caucus to discipline Legislator Tu Wen-ching (杜文卿) after he used a legislative committee meeting to publicly humiliate the official who had offended him by adhering to the law.
During Thursday's Finance Committee meeting, Lin Chiu-tung (林秋東), a low-ranking customs officer, was required to attend at the request of a committee co-chair, DPP Legislator Yu Cheng-tao (余政道).
Yu asked for Lin to attend on the suggestion of Tu, who said he wanted to clarify a news report that said he had shouted filthy words at the Customs officer on Dec. 19 at the Customs desk in CKS airport, after Lin had seized 20 boxes of cigarettes -- said to be worth a mere NT$3,000 (US$92.46) -- from Tu when he and his friends had returned to Taiwan.
A person is allowed to bring 200 cigarettes (one carton) into Taiwan duty free, and may pay NT$3,240 to bring in four additional cartons, for a total of five cartons. Any cigarettes beyond that amount will be seized by the authorities.
Tu used a hearing on Customs to work himself into a paroxysm of juvenile rage -- complete with props -- and attacked the hapless Lin.
"Do you know who I am now? Did I bring any cigarettes? Did I bring any cigarettes in this handbag? Did I?" shouted Tu during the commitee meeting, gesticulating at a bag he asserted was the same he had had when he entered Taiwan on Dec. 19. Yelling at Lin incessantly, Tu pulled items -- including a pair of underpants -- out of the bag and waved them around in the air.
After this frenetic display, Tu -- who said he was a non-smoker -- said he had never shouted abuse at Lin, adding that the cigarettes didn't belong to him, but to his friends.
He then accused Lin and Customs Director-General Yu Shaw-wu (
Lin was visibly frightened by the legislator's vicious tantrum, and said he didn't see if Tu had cigarettes at the time. He said that he had merely directed Tu to a different counter to deal with the issue. He closed his remarks by saying "may god bless you" to the lawmaker.
Five other DPP legislators joined in the bloodsport, supporting Tu and taking turns blasting Yu, Lin and the Customs office as a whole.
But DPP Legislator Lin Chung-mo (
"Lin Chiu-tung didn't do anything wrong, and when he asked Tu and his friends to leave the [extra] cigarettes he was carrying out his duty. As a minor public servant, he is not supposed to be questioned in the legislature," Lin Chung-mo said.
Tu yesterday offered an apology to Lin Chiu-tung, saying "I felt sorry that [Lin] was pressured to be questioned in the legislative committee."
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislative caucus was far from satisfied by this peace offering, and asked Minister of Finance Joseph Lyu (
The coast guard drove away 567 Chinese boats and seized seven illegally operating in Taiwanese waters in the first six months of this year, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. They mostly operated near Kinmen and Penghu counties, resulting in fines totaling NT$1.7 million (US$52,440), it said. Three ships — two near Kinmen County and one near Penghu County — were detained in January for illegally crossing the border, while one ship each was detained near Kinmen in February and Penghu in March respectively, it said. The ship seized near Penghu in January was the Yun Ao (雲澳), detained by the CGA’s
The entire Alishan Forest Railway line is to reopen for the first time in 15 years on Saturday, with tickets to go on sale at 2pm today. The historic railway from Chiayi to Alishan (阿里山) is finally set to reopen after the completion of the final No. 42 tunnel, Alishan Forest Railway and Cultural Heritage Office Deputy Director-General Chou Heng-kai (周恆凱) said. It is to run on a new timetable, with four trains daily, he said. The 9am train is to depart from Chiayi Railway Station bound for Shizilu Station (十字路), while the 10am train departing from Chiayi is to go all the
FLU CONTINUES: Hospitals reported 101,091 visits for flu-like illnesses last week, while 68 severe cases and 16 flu-related deaths were also reported, the CDC said The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday reported 932 hospitalizations due to COVID-19 and 64 related deaths for last week, adding that the number of people who had contracted new SARS-CoV-2 subvariants KP.2 and LB.1 has increased. The number of people hospitalized due to COVID-19 increased from 815 in the previous week to 932 last week, while 90 percent of the 64 deceased were aged 65 or older, CDC physician Lin Yung-ching (林詠青) said. JN.1 was still the dominant variant among local and imported cases in the past four weeks, while KP.2 was the second-most common, Lin said. Cases with the LB.1 subvariant
Beijing’s recent provocative actions against the Philippines in the South China Sea were partly meant as a “dress rehearsal” for the invasion of Taiwan, former US deputy national security advisor Matt Pottinger said at a Heritage Foundation forum in Washington on Tuesday. Beijing’s blocking of a Philippine resupply mission on June 17 with unprecedented violence had multiple implications. “What they’re doing is trying to demonstrate that they can blockade, create a sense of futility and discredit the idea that the United States is going to help not only the Philippines, but by extension Taiwan,” Pottinger said. Pottinger was referring to a clash