Citizen Congress Watch (CCW) staged a demonstration outside the Legislative Yuan yesterday, protesting Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng’s (王金平) failure to fulfill a promise to allow public access to the legislature’s video-on-demand (VOD) system.
“Wang promised several times during the past legislative session, and again in August, that he would endeavor to allow public access to live broadcasts of legislative meetings through the legislature’s VOD system as soon as this session starts in September,” CCW chairman Ku Chung-hwa (顧忠華) said.
“But obviously, he has failed to fulfill that promise,” Ku said.
Ku said members of the US Congress were able to bridge the political divide and stand together to vote down the US$700 billion proposal made by the US President George W. Bush administration to rescue Wall Street.
This, he said, could be achieved “because members of the US Congress are directly watched by voters and they stand for the public’s interests, not the government’s.”
“To have a better legislature, we must start by making it transparent,” he said.
Although the legislature recently created a media page with selected video clips showing parts of the legislative meetings, it falls short of what CCW has called for.
“What we’re seeking is complete public access to everything that is recorded or broadcast live during legislative meetings, not just limited selection of videos that only show the ‘good side’ of the legislature,” CCW executive director Ho Tsung-hsun (何宗勳) said. “This is progress, but it falls short of our expectations.”
Under the selective system, the public can only see video clips that have been carefully selected and uploaded by lawmakers, said Shen Chuen-hua (沈春華), an office aide to Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲).
Kuan is among the 90 lawmakers who signed an agreement to promote legislative transparency and pushed for uploading live broadcasts of legislative meetings on a Web site.
“We’re disappointed and call on Wang to fulfill his promise as quickly as possible,” Ho said.
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) today condemned the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) after the Czech officials confirmed that Chinese agents had surveilled Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) during her visit to Prague in March last year. Czech Military Intelligence director Petr Bartovsky yesterday said that Chinese operatives had attempted to create the conditions to carry out a demonstrative incident involving Hsiao, going as far as to plan a collision with her car. Hsiao was vice president-elect at the time. The MAC said that it has requested an explanation and demanded a public apology from Beijing. The CCP has repeatedly ignored the desires
Many Chinese spouses required to submit proof of having renounced their Chinese household registration have either completed the process or provided affidavits ahead of the June 30 deadline, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said on Thursday. Of the 12,146 people required to submit the proof, 5,534 had done so as of Wednesday, MAC deputy head and spokesperson Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said. Another 2,572 people who met conditions for exemption or deferral from submitting proof of deregistration — such as those with serious illnesses or injuries — have submitted affidavits instead, he said. “As long as individuals are willing to cooperate with the legal
The Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant’s license has expired and it cannot simply be restarted, the Executive Yuan said today, ahead of national debates on the nuclear power referendum. The No. 2 reactor at the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant in Pingtung County was disconnected from the nation’s power grid and completely shut down on May 17, the day its license expired. The government would prioritize people’s safety and conduct necessary evaluations and checks if there is a need to extend the service life of the reactor, Executive Yuan spokeswoman Michelle Lee (李慧芝) told a news conference. Lee said that the referendum would read: “Do
The Ministry of Environment yesterday held a seminar in Taipei for experts from Taiwan and Japan to exchange their experiences on the designs and development of public toilets. Japan Toilet Association chairman Kohei Yamamoto said that he was impressed with the eco-toilet set up at Daan Forest Park, adding that Japan still faces issues regarding public restrooms despite the progress it made over the past decades. For example, an all-gender toilet was set up in Kabukicho in Tokyo’s Shinjuku District several years ago, but it caused a public backlash and was rebuilt into traditional men’s and women’s toilets, he said. Japan Toilet Association
RSS