The Legislative Yuan yesterday voted to abolish the direct election of leaders of local irrigation associations, which are major organizations for farmers.
The positions are to be filled by appointment, a move blasted by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) as designed to incur political gains for the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).
Under the new amendment to the Organic Regulations for Irrigation and Water Conservancy Associations (農田水利會組織通則), the executives of 15 irrigation associations, whose four-year terms are scheduled to end on April 30, are to continue for another two years until Sept. 30, 2020.
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
When their terms expire, the Council of Agriculture are to fill the positions by appointment, rather than by elections as has been the case since 2002.
The council is taking control of the associations, which are responsible for irrigation operations and maintenance, to improve efficiency in the use of agricultural water and to provide better services for farmers, it said.
However, the DPP government has been criticized for returning the associations to government control for its own benifit.
Several thousand people mobilized by KMT chapters nationwide protested outside the Legislative Yuan yesterday holding placards saying that the “centralized DPP government” intends to use the positions to lure support from KMT-affiliated local factions and that the change is “a step backward in democracy.”
Of the nation’s 17 irrigation associations, only four are led by people affiliated with the DPP — Yilan, Taoyuan, Kaohsiung and Pingtung — a Taichung Irrigation Association employee surnamed Chen (陳) said.
Since 2002, under the previous DPP administration, farmers have had the power to elect irrigation association leaders, Chen said.
“The DPP cannot just take back the power because it lost to the KMT in association elections,” he added.
DPP Legislative caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) said that the KMT in 2000 pushed for the direct election system after the DPP came to power.
In the late 1990s a cross-party consensus was reached that the positions filled by a selection committee vote should be changed to appointed positions.
However, in 2000 the KMT backtracked so as not to give the DPP the power of appointment, Ker said.
Global bodies should stop excluding Taiwan for political reasons, President William Lai (賴清德) told Pope Francis in a letter, adding that he agrees war has no winners. The Vatican is one of only 12 countries to retain formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan, and Taipei has watched with concern efforts by Beijing and the Holy See to improve ties. In October, the Vatican and China extended an accord on the appointment of Catholic bishops in China for four years, pointing to a new level of trust between the two parties. Lai, writing to the pope in response to the pontiff’s message on Jan. 1’s
A Vietnamese migrant worker on Thursday won the NT$12 million (US$383,590) jackpot on a scratch-off lottery ticket she bought from a lottery shop in Changhua County’s Puyan Township (埔鹽), Taiwan Lottery Co said yesterday. The lottery winner, who is in her 30s and married, said she would continue to work in Taiwan and send her winnings to her family in Vietnam to improve their life. More Taiwanese and migrant workers have flocked to the lottery shop on Sec 2 of Jhangshuei Road (彰水路) to share in the luck. The shop owner, surnamed Chen (陳), said that his shop has been open for just
TAKE BREAKS: A woman developed cystitis by refusing to get up to use the bathroom while playing mahjong for fear of disturbing her winning streak, a doctor said People should stand up and move around often while traveling or playing mahjong during the Lunar New Year holiday, as prolonged sitting can lead to cystitis or hemorrhoids, doctors said. Yuan’s General Hospital urologist Lee Tsung-hsi (李宗熹) said that he treated a 63-year-old woman surnamed Chao (趙) who had been sitting motionless and holding off going to the bathroom, increasing her risk of bladder infection. Chao would drink beverages and not urinate for several hours while playing mahjong with friends and family, especially when she was on a winning streak, afraid that using the bathroom would ruin her luck, he said. She had
MUST REMAIN FREE: A Chinese takeover of Taiwan would lead to a global conflict, and if the nation blows up, the world’s factories would fall in a week, a minister said Taiwan is like Prague in 1938 facing Adolf Hitler; only if Taiwan remains free and democratic would the world be safe, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) said in an interview with Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera. The ministry on Saturday said Corriere della Sera is one of Italy’s oldest and most read newspapers, frequently covers European economic and political issues, and that Wu agreed to an interview with the paper’s senior political analyst Massimo Franco in Taipei on Jan. 3. The interview was published on Jan. 26 with the title “Taiwan like Prague in 1938 with Hitler,” the ministry
RSS