A media report that the Executive Yuan is about to hire the wife of new presidential spokesperson Yin Wei (殷瑋) drew criticism yesterday.
The report comes amid a series of government hirings, which the opposition describes as “political rewards” for people in President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) “inner circle.”
The Chinese-language Apple Daily yesterday cited an unidentified person as saying that the Executive Yuan had interviewed Yin’s wife, Yeh Nai-yu (葉乃瑜), in private for a position at the newly established new media department and that she would be hired, even though the vacancy has yet to be announced publicly.
Photo: CNA
Yin, former deputy director of the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) Culture and Communications Committee, was appointed spokesperson for the Presidential Office on Saturday.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Tsai Huang-liang (蔡煌瑯) yesterday accused the Executive Yuan of “black-box” hiring” designed he said to only reward “comrades.”
Executive Yuan spokesperson Sun Lih-chyun (孫立群) rejected the accusation, saying the office is not holding open recruitment and that Yeh “was the only candidate who has rich experience in filmmaking and policy promotion and communication.”
Sun said he could not think who could have recommended Yeh for the position.
Responding to the report on Facebook, Yeh denied taking advantage of her husband’s position to apply for the job.
She said she had worked in the Presidential Office for three years in related fields and had resigned upon Yin’s transfer to the Presidential Office.
Yeh said she could have stayed if she wanted to exploit Yin’s power, but added that she was willing to give up the job opportunity if Yin asked her to.
The 26-year-old, who previously worked for the KMT’s Youth Corps, described the report and the public discourse on the issue as “gender discrimination and male chauvinism.”
The media report came on the heels of the Taiwan Provincial Government’s controversial rehiring of former civil servant Kuo Kuan-ying (郭冠英).
Kuo had been dismissed in 2009 for making derogatory remarks about ethnic Taiwanese in several articles that he published under his pseudonym, Fan Lan-chin (范蘭欽), during the time he served as an official at the now-defunct Government Information Office in Toronto, Canada.
The Control Yuan’s investigation into the case is ongoing.
Meanwhile, former New Party legislator Hsieh Chi-ta (謝啟大) on Thursday resigned as a senior specialist in the Taipei City Government’s secretariat, amid controversy that she was hired to help her meet her pension requirements.
“These cases obviously represent the [Ma] regime’s political rewards for those in the ‘inner circle,’ which disregards public opinion or candidates’ expertise, and instead reflects the long-standing phenomenon of the Ma administration’s ‘inbreeding,’” DPP Legislator Yeh Yi-jin (葉宜津) said.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
RSS