The campaign office of independent Taipei mayoral candidate Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) pledged to review the hiring of a substitute services military draftee as the office’s information technology adviser after a media outlet reported the controversial move yesterday.
Yen Yi-cheng (顏易程), a draftee of the three-year research and development substitute services, has been working as an aide to Ko in charge of the campaign office’s Internet services and security system, the Chinese-language Next Magazine yesterday reported.
Yen, who is scheduled to be discharged from military service on Oct. 14 next year, was also involved in other campaign activities, and Ko had ignored his aides’ warning about Yen’s sensitive status as a soldier, the report said.
In response, Ko’s office said Yen was sent by Nick Enterprise Co, a contractor, to the office.
Under the substitute services system, which is different from the compulsory military service of the past, draftees can be employed and compensated by private companies.
Ko’s campaign spokesperson Chien Yu-yen (簡余晏) said Yen was not employed by the campaign office and the office did not pay him for his work.
Yen was not an aide in charge of campaign activities, she said, adding that Yen could participate in those activities after getting off from work because he was interested in the Taipei mayoral election, which is scheduled to be held on Nov. 29.
“Whether or not a substitute services draftee is allowed to work for a campaign office and participate in campaign activities is debatable. We believe it is legal, but we will review the case closely,” she said.
With regards to Yen’s future, Chien said it should be decided by Yen’s contract with Nick Enterprise Co, his employer and whether the current law interprets a campaign office’s employment of a substitute services draftee as legal.
Commenting on the controversy, the Ministry of the Interior said that, so far, Yen has not violated any law, since Yen is not legally a soldier.
However, the ministry warned that he could be breaking the law if he takes part in campaign activities.
“Although Yen is not officially a solider, we would still like to urge him to maintain administrative neutrality,” National Conscription Agency official Cho Huan-hsin (卓煥新) said. “Yen was dispatched by an information technology firm to Ko’s campaign office according to a contract, and his job involves items described in the contract.”
Cho went on to say that Yen would only be violation of the law if he takes part in campaign activities, and therefore, to avoid further questions, the agency suggests that the firm send another engineer to Ko’s campaign office.
Death row inmate Huang Lin-kai (黃麟凱), who was convicted for the double murder of his former girlfriend and her mother, is to be executed at the Taipei Detention Center tonight, the Ministry of Justice announced. Huang, who was a military conscript at the time, was convicted for the rape and murder of his ex-girlfriend, surnamed Wang (王), and the murder of her mother, after breaking into their home on Oct. 1, 2013. Prosecutors cited anger over the breakup and a dispute about money as the motives behind the double homicide. This is the first time that Minister of Justice Cheng Ming-chien (鄭銘謙) has
BITTERLY COLD: The inauguration ceremony for US president-elect Donald Trump has been moved indoors due to cold weather, with the new venue lacking capacity A delegation of cross-party lawmakers from Taiwan, led by Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), for the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump, would not be able to attend the ceremony, as it is being moved indoors due to forecasts of intense cold weather in Washington tomorrow. The inauguration ceremony for Trump and US vice president-elect JD Vance is to be held inside the Capitol Rotunda, which has a capacity of about 2,000 people. A person familiar with the issue yesterday said although the outdoor inauguration ceremony has been relocated, Taiwan’s legislative delegation has decided to head off to Washington as scheduled. The delegation
TRANSPORT CONVENIENCE: The new ticket gates would accept a variety of mobile payment methods, and buses would be installed with QR code readers for ease of use New ticketing gates for the Taipei metro system are expected to begin service in October, allowing users to swipe with cellphones and select credit cards partnered with Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC), the company said on Tuesday. TRTC said its gates in use are experiencing difficulty due to their age, as they were first installed in 2007. Maintenance is increasingly expensive and challenging as the manufacturing of components is halted or becoming harder to find, the company said. Currently, the gates only accept EasyCard, iPass and electronic icash tickets, or one-time-use tickets purchased at kiosks, the company said. Since 2023, the company said it
Another wave of cold air would affect Taiwan starting from Friday and could evolve into a continental cold mass, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Temperatures could drop below 10°C across Taiwan on Monday and Tuesday next week, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. Seasonal northeasterly winds could bring rain, he said. Meanwhile, due to the continental cold mass and radiative cooling, it would be cold in northern and northeastern Taiwan today and tomorrow, according to the CWA. From last night to this morning, temperatures could drop below 10°C in northern Taiwan, it said. A thin coat of snow
RSS