President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday nominated Central Election Committee (CEC) Chairman Lai Hau-min (賴浩敏) as the head of the Judicial Yuan and former National Communications Commission chairman Su Yeong-chin (蘇永欽) as his deputy.
They were also nominated as members of the Council of Grand Justices. Nominations to both bodies require confirmation by the Legislative Yuan.
Last month, Ma approved Lai In-jaw’s (賴英照) resignation as president of the Judicial Yuan, but asked him to stay on as a council member. Hsieh Tsai-chuan (謝在全) took over as acting Judicial Yuan president until a replacement is found for the post.
Lai In-jaw quit in the midst of a corruption scandal involving three Taiwan High Court judges and one prosecutor suspected of taking bribes from a former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmaker.
Ma yesterday also approved Lai In-jaw’s and Hsieh’s retirement as council members.
Ma told a press conference he had chosen Lai Hau-min and Su because both are honest and highly professional, with Lai a trained lawyer and Su a veteran law professor.
The two have experience in leading independent government agencies and are good at coordination and negotiation, Ma said, adding that they both cared about judicial reform and had the passion to restore public trust in the judiciary.
Ma said he expected the pair to push what he called the “people’s judicial reform” whereby the Judicial Yuan will join forces with honest judicial personnel as well as experts and individuals to clean up the justice system.
“For judicial reform to be successful, it cannot be dictated by a few people,” he said. “We want the help of everybody so we will know what they think and how they feel.”
Lai Hau-min said he was “shocked” by the president’s nomination, but decided to accept the responsibility with great pleasure.
Born in Miaoli and a graduate of National Taiwan University, Lai Hau-min also has a master’s degree in law from the University of Tokyo. He co-founded the Formosa Transnational law firm and practiced law for 46 years. He served as a CEC member for more than 20 years and was appointed chairman in September last year.
Lai Hau-min said he empathized with those disappointed at the justice system, saying there is a significant gap between the system and public expectations. The 71-year-old pledged to commit himself to judicial reform if the legislature confirms his nomination.
He said people wanted to see high-quality verdicts and judges who are even-tempered, clean, just and effective.
“They are not asking too much,” he said.
In addition to cracking down on corruption, Lai Hau-min said prevention was equally important and the long-term goal was to stamp out graft among civil servants. To that end, he said it was important to consolidate public consensus and map out the most effective and reasonable measures.
“People are getting impatient and hope to see some results,” Lai Hau-min said.
Su, former National Security Council secretary-general Su Chi’s (蘇起) younger brother, is a friend of Ma from high school and university.
He said the nomination was a great honor, but also an onerous challenge and formidable task.
The 59-year-old, who has been teaching law for 29 years, said he decided to accept the challenge because there was no reason for him to abstain from the opportunity at a critical moment.
“The justice system is at a turning point,” he said. “The system itself is not bad, but many people are not happy about it. It is time to make it better, but if we fail, the system will plunge further into a downward spiral.”
KMT caucus secretary-general Lin Hung-chih (林鴻池) said the caucus would fully support the nominees during the legislature’s review of the president’s nomination, adding that Lai and Su Yeong-chin are both qualified for the posts.
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus, on the other hand, raised concerns that they were “political appointments” that would take away the independence of the judiciary.
DPP lawmakers are expected to vote against the appointments.
DPP Legislator Gao Jyh-peng (高志鵬) called it a “step backwards for justice,” questioning Su Yeong-chin’s personal relationship with the president and saying Lai Hau-min did not have sufficient legal experience.
“I can’t see how Lai Hau-min is fit to become the president of the Judicial Yuan. He has never served as a grand justice, doesn’t have a doctorate and isn’t even a law professor,” Gao said.
DPP lawmakers raised concerns that real power in the judiciary would be assumed by Su Yeong-chin.
“Everybody knows about Su Chi’s close relationship with President Ma Ying-jeou ... this tie will complicate the [judiciary] and could compromise its independence,” DPP Legislator Kuo Jung-chung (郭榮宗) said.
KMT Legislator Hsieh Kuo-liang (謝國樑), head of the Judiciary and Organic Laws and Statutes Committee, rebutted the DPP’s criticism of the nominees, saying that neither is obviously “pro-blue.”
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY VINCENT Y. CHAO AND FLORA WANG
US President Donald Trump yesterday announced sweeping "reciprocal tariffs" on US trading partners, including a 32 percent tax on goods from Taiwan that is set to take effect on Wednesday. At a Rose Garden event, Trump declared a 10 percent baseline tax on imports from all countries, with the White House saying it would take effect on Saturday. Countries with larger trade surpluses with the US would face higher duties beginning on Wednesday, including Taiwan (32 percent), China (34 percent), Japan (24 percent), South Korea (25 percent), Vietnam (46 percent) and Thailand (36 percent). Canada and Mexico, the two largest US trading
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary
RSS