The Control Yuan and Examination Yuan should be abolished as their seats are filled with “fat-cat patronage appointments” for well-paying and cushy jobs, while some members have accepted teaching positions in China, raising national security concerns, Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) and New Power Party (NPP) lawmakers said yesterday.
Prevailing public opinion is that it is time that both branches of government be abolished, the TPP’s five lawmakers said.
The life-long goal of many people in Taiwan’s academic circles is to be appointed to the Examination Yuan, “because it is such a cushy job without much to do, and by law members enjoy a very high salary commensurate with the head of a government ministry,” TPP Legislator Jang Chyi-lu (張其祿) said.
Photo: Peter Lo, Taipei Times
The current extraordinary legislative session is reviewing the nominations for 11 seats on the Examination Yuan, in charge of administering civil service examinations, and for 27 seats on the Control Yuan, the government’s watchdog body.
The TPP held a brief protest inside and outside the main legislative chamber, during which TPP caucus whip Lai Hsiang-ling (賴香伶) raised the issue of some Examination Yuan members accepting outside work, including lecturing posts in China.
“Many people are disgusted by the fact that Examination Yuan members earn outside income, even though their annual salary is NT$2.7 million [US$91,198], and if promoted to the board of examiners, members receive an extra NT$700,000 on top of their salaries,” Lai said.
“Some Examination Yuan members have accepted visiting professor or guest lecturer posts at universities in China. They are also known to receive other extra income from taking on other part-time academic work,” Lai said. “This is why most people see the seats as ‘fat-cat patronage appointments’ by which the ruling party can reward its friends.”
NPP Legislator Claire Wang (王婉諭) said that her party’s stance was very clear: both Control Yuan and the Examination Yuan should be abolished.
“However, before that can be done, we will scrutinize the nomination process very carefully, to see if the nominees are qualified,” she said.
NPP lawmakers said they were angry that none of the nominees had responded to the party’s questionnaire about specific cases involving the Examination Yuan’s authority.Those who had not responded included Examination Yuan president nominee Huang Jong-tsun (黃榮村) and vice president nominee Chou Hung-hsien (周弘憲).
Their refusals were outrageous, NPP caucus whip Chiu Hsien-chih (邱顯智) said.
“We had sent out the questionnaire a month ago, and it only had seven questions, the most important of which was the nominees’ opinion on discovering people taking a civil service exam had cheated,” Chiu said.
“The questionnaire is not so tough... Our society has many impoverished people, but Examination Yuan members enjoy very high salaries and good perks, all paid for by the taxpayers. By not responding to the questionnaire, they are showing their disregard of the taxpayers who are pay their salary,” Chiu said.
Several Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) officials including Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) are to be summoned for questioning and then transferred to prosecutors for holding an illegal assembly in Taipei last night, the Taipei Police said today. Chu and two others hosted an illegal assembly and are to be requested to explain their actions, the Taipei City Police Department's Zhongzheng (中正) First Precinct said, referring to a protest held after Huang Lu Chin-ju (黃呂錦茹), KMT Taipei's chapter director, and several other KMT staffers were questioned for alleged signature forgery in recall petitions against Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators. Taipei prosecutors had filed
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
President William Lai (賴清德) has appointed former vice president Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) to attend the late Pope Francis’ funeral at the Vatican City on Saturday on his behalf, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today. The Holy See announced Francis’ funeral would take place on Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square. The ministry expressed condolences over Francis’ passing and said that Chen would represent Taiwan at the funeral and offer condolences in person. Taiwan and the Vatican have a long-standing and close diplomatic relationship, the ministry said. Both sides agreed to have Chen represent Taiwan at the funeral, given his Catholic identity and
Lawmakers from the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday established a friendship group with their counterparts in Ukraine to promote parliamentary exchanges between the two countries. A ceremony in Taipei for the Taiwan-Ukraine Parliamentary Friendship Association, initiated by DPP Legislator Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷), was attended by lawmakers and officials, including Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) and European Economic and Trade Office in Taiwan Director Lutz Gullner. The increasingly dire situation in Ukraine is a global concern, and Taiwan cannot turn its back when the latter is in need of help, as the two countries share many common values and interests,