Taiwan Transportation Safety Board Chairman Young Hong-tsu’s (楊宏智) resignation request has been approved following allegations he used his official vehicle to visit hot springs and restaurants in Yilan County.
Executive Yuan spokesperson Chen Tsung-yen (陳宗彥) said yesterday that Young decided to step down to avoid causing trouble for the administration, following recent reports about the allegations.
Premier Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) approved the resignation yesterday, Chen Tsung-yen added.
Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times
Chen Tsung-yen said the Executive Yuan’s Civil Service Ethics Department on Tuesday submitted a report on the incident, but the premier said he felt the department’s investigation was not thorough enough, and ordered another investigation.
Chen Chien-jen initially said that Young could go on leave, and later come back pending the outcome of the investigation, but Young unexpectedly tendered his resignation yesterday, Chen Tsung-yen said.
Asked why he resigned, rather than await the results of the investigation, Young said he felt the media would “make a fuss about the incident like it always does.”
“Most of the time people who make accusations do not ask the person involved for their side of things,” he said.
Young said the media attention had left him feeling “exhausted,” so he made the decision yesterday morning to resign.
Honor guards are to stop performing changing of the guard ceremonies around a statue of Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) to avoid “worshiping authoritarianism,” the Ministry of Culture said yesterday. The fate of the bronze statue has long been the subject of fierce and polarizing debate in Taiwan, which has transformed from an autocracy under Chiang into one of Asia’s most vibrant democracies. The changing of the guard each hour at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall in Taipei is a major tourist attraction, but starting from 9am on Monday, the ceremony is to be moved outdoors to Democracy Boulevard, outside the eponymous blue-and-white memorial
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