The abrupt transfer of former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) from a hospital in Taipei to a prison hospital in Greater Taichung disrupted the legislative session yesterday, with Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) lawmakers occupying the floor to boycott the meeting.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers had planned to request a vote in an attempt to push through the government-backed proposal to stage a national referendum on the fate of the controversial Fourth Nuclear Power Plant in New Taipei City’s (新北市) Gongliao District (貢寮) at the session.
The DPP planned to propose an immediate halt to the construction of the plant, a motion the TSU and the People First Party supported.
Photo: CNA
At 3pm, Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) announced that the session was adjourned until Tuesday next week.
Lawmakers engaged in a fierce exchange of words over the relocation of Chen Shui-bian and several KMT lawmakers’ mockery of former DPP chairman Lin I-hsiung (林義雄), who previously led several round-the-island walks campaigning for a referendum on the nuclear plant.
With douli, or bamboo hats, on their heads and placards bearing slogans used in Lin’s campaign meant to resemble the clothing of Lin and his followers in the campaign, KMT lawmakers Wu Yu-jen (吳育仁), Yen Kuan-hen (顏寬恒), and six others took a short walk on the floor.
KMT Legislator Alex Tsai (蔡正元), in the same costume, sat on the ground, mimicking Lin, who staged various sit-in demonstrations in front of the front gate of the legislature to push for the enactment of a referendum act.
While they were performing the imitation, some DPP lawmakers became irritated, with some shouting words such as “shameless” and “nasty.”
DPP lawmakers placed several placards in bird cages with the name of the Referendum Act (公民投票法) in Chinese characters to highlight the flaws in the legislation, one of which was the required turnout of at least half of the electorate for a national referendum to be considered valid.
“The KMT should offer Lin I-hsiung an apology. When the bird-caged Referendum Act was passed, he launched a campaign demanding the KMT make revisions to the law. Now the KMT ridicules him in such a disrespectful manner. It’s disgraceful,” DPP Legislator Tuan Yi-kang (段宜康) said.
KMT legislative caucus whip Lai Shyh-bao (賴士葆) was trying to remind the DPP not to forget the spirit and ideals advocated by Lin.
Not long after Premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) proposed the referendum, Lin has voiced opposition to the plan, which he called a “prank.”
Lin said that the referendum proposal was “full of political calculations,” and “a cheap trick and a prank that plays the public for fools.”
The Referendum Act laid down “unreasonable and strict” regulations that made the passage of referendums “almost impossible,” Lin said.
WANG RELEASED: A police investigation showed that an organized crime group allegedly taught their clients how to pretend to be sick during medical exams Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) and 11 others were released on bail yesterday, after being questioned for allegedly dodging compulsory military service or forging documents to help others avoid serving. Wang, 33, was catapulted into stardom for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代). Lately, he has been focusing on developing his entertainment career in China. The New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office last month began investigating an organized crime group that is allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified documents. Police in New Taipei City Yonghe Precinct at the end of last month arrested the main suspect,
Eleven people, including actor Darren Wang (王大陸), were taken into custody today for questioning regarding the evasion of compulsory military service and document forgery, the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said. Eight of the people, including Wang, are suspected of evading military service, while three are suspected of forging medical documents to assist them, the report said. They are all being questioned by police and would later be transferred to the prosecutors’ office for further investigation. Three men surnamed Lee (李), Chang (張) and Lin (林) are suspected of improperly assisting conscripts in changing their military classification from “stand-by
LITTORAL REGIMENTS: The US Marine Corps is transitioning to an ‘island hopping’ strategy to counterattack Beijing’s area denial strategy The US Marine Corps (USMC) has introduced new anti-drone systems to bolster air defense in the Pacific island chain amid growing Chinese military influence in the region, The Telegraph reported on Sunday. The new Marine Air Defense Integrated System (MADIS) Mk 1 is being developed to counter “the growing menace of unmanned aerial systems,” it cited the Marine Corps as saying. China has constructed a powerful defense mechanism in the Pacific Ocean west of the first island chain by deploying weapons such as rockets, submarines and anti-ship missiles — which is part of its anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) strategy against adversaries — the
Former Taiwan People’s Party chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) may apply to visit home following the death of his father this morning, the Taipei Detention Center said. Ko’s father, Ko Cheng-fa (柯承發), passed away at 8:40am today at the Hsinchu branch of National Taiwan University Hospital. He was 94 years old. The center said Ko Wen-je was welcome to apply, but declined to say whether it had already received an application. The center also provides psychological counseling to people in detention as needed, it added, also declining to comment on Ko Wen-je’s mental state. Ko Wen-je is being held in detention as he awaits trial
RSS