Legislators across party lines yesterday slammed the Examination Yuan for planning to test civil servant candidates on China’s Constitution in national examinations.
During a hearing at the legislative Judiciary and Organic Laws and Statutes Committee, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Gao Jhy-peng (高志鵬) asked Minister of Examinations Yung Chaur-shin (楊朝祥) to name one country that would test potential civil servants on another country’s constitution.
“Are we creating another Taiwan miracle?” Gao asked.
Yung said that the People’s Republic of China Constitution was one of the four subjects the ministry intended to include in the national civil servant exams for recruiting personnel whose functions are related to cross-strait affairs, rather than for all potential civil servants.
Yung, however, said that the proposal was “inappropriate” and “poorly thought-out,” adding that the ministry had decided to scrap the plan.
At Gao’s request, Yung promised to provide the names of experts invited by the ministry to discuss the matter, as well as the minutes of the meeting.
DPP Legislator Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) questioned whether it was a decision made from the top down.
Yung said the proposal was made from the bottom up. He emphasized that there was a certain procedure to follow, saying that the proposal was in the hands of the ministry’s Legal Affairs Committee and had not yet reached him. Only if he approved the proposal would it proceed to the Examination Yuan, he said.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Wu Ching-chih (吳清池) said the proposal was a mistake from the very beginning, and had unnecessarily involved government agencies, including the National Security Council.
Wu said that thanks to media reports, public opposition and legislators’ concern, the proposal had been abandoned in a timely manner, adding that it would have proceeded without a hitch otherwise.
Wu said the timing was not right to push such an initiative and that the ministry should put a stop to it immediately.
FUND
Meanwhile, Minister of Civil Service Chang Che-chen (張哲琛), who doubles as the chairman of the civil servant retirement fund management committee, said that investment experts had predicted that the economy would rebound in the second or third quarter this year. While they are ready to invest the fund in the market, they would be careful in selecting the timing.
KMT Legislator Chiu Yi (邱毅) warned the ministry not to be too optimistic about the economic prospects, saying it could easily cause substantial losses to the civil servant retirement fund if the ministry were to invest it in the stock market based on incorrect information.
Chang expressed opposition to the Ministry of Finance’s proposal to take part of the civil servant retirement fund to establish a NT$14 trillion (US$405.9 billion) investment platform.
Chang said the financial crisis had cost the NT$335 billion civil servant retirement fund more than NT$86 billion in net losses last year, NT$6.4 billion in January this year and NT$1.4 billion last month.
Due to the lackluster performance of the brokers, Chang said he had terminated four brokers’ contracts.
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