Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) yesterday said that civil servants must remain politically neutral during work hours, following allegations that the Kaohsiung City Government banned its employees from joining any recall petitions.
According to leaked meeting minutes obtained by the Chinese-language Liberty Times (sister newspaper of the Taipei Times), city officials asked every civil servant present if they had received any recall petition documents and instructed them not to take part.
They were also told not to post any inappropriate comments on Facebook during work hours, such as remarks that would breach the government’s principle of political neutrality, the newspaper reported.
Photo: Wang Jung-hsiang, Taipei Times
The document raised concerns over possible government interference, as a petition to recall Han launched in June by Citizens Mowing Action and We Care Kaohsiung is still gathering signatures.
We Care Kaohsiung has called Han — who is to represent the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) in next year’s presidential election — a “runaway mayor” ready to abandon Kaohsiung to become president.
The city government said that Han respects residents’ right to recall politicians, but as the mayor has previously said, such petitions must adhere to the law.
The meeting was held to remind staff to remain politically neutral at work after receiving a report that certain staffers were distributing recall petitions and making political comments online during work hours, it said.
The Public Servants’ Administrative Neutrality Act (公務人員行政中立法) stipulates that civil servants may not participate in political activities while at work, it said.
In addition, the Civil Servants Election and Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法) bans civil servants from initiating a recall petition, it added.
“I have repeatedly told city employees to remain politically neutral at work, but in their free time they can take any political stance — that is without a doubt,” Han said when asked about the leaked minutes.
Although the act bans civil servants from initiating a recall petition, it allows them to sign one, We Care Kaohsiung said.
“Han’s team is asking its employees not to sign any recall petition” apparently in an attempt to police their thought, it said, adding that the petition is not the first recall campaign targeting Han, as he has been “fooling around” in politics for more than two decades.
In 1994, nearly 378,000 residents of then-Taipei County voted to recall Han, who was representing the county as a legislator, it said.
Knowing that residents would not be able to reach the unreasonably high recall threshold at the time, Han did not even offer a defense against the recall in the election notice, it said.
If a campaign to recall Han could garner nearly 400,000 votes back then, getting 500,000 votes this time is possible, it said, adding that Han is now much more well-known and disliked.
Additional reporting by Wang Jung-hsiang
‘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
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
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