04.13.06
KMT legislators and the prosecutor-general
The big political news recently in Taiwan has been how the nomination for prosecutor-general of Hsieh Wen-ding (謝文定) has been blocked by the pan-Blue legislature. Why is the position of prosecutor-general important? Well, here’s one explanation:
Analysts said the role of the top public prosecutor-general has become especially important as the nation’s Control Yuan, the highest watchdog agency empowered to crack down on malfeasance by government officials and agencies, have been in limbo for more than one year.
This paragraph sums up the paralysis gripping Taiwan’s political landscape perfectly. Corruption is a major problem in Taiwan - and yet a whole branch of government (the Control Yuan) responsible for investigating corruption in government has been virtually shut down by the opposition for a year. Of course, the Control Yuan has been a pretty ineffective organisation for decades - but then the opposition also promises to block any constitutional reform to improve that situation. As a result the prosecutor-general becomes a more high-profile and politically significant postion … which results in the opposition blocking the nomination for it.
Of course, maybe the legislature had valid reasons for blocking the nomination. Here’s what Pan Wei-kang, a KMT whip, had to say about the nomination in the two China Post articles i’ve linked to above:
[6th April] Pan agreed that Hsieh’s qualifications are good, but added that whether he can resist partisan or political pressure remains to be seen.
[12th April] Pan Wei-kang, a Kuomintang caucus whip, said the opposition party would consider supporting Hsieh, if he were named again and promised to investigate important cases, including the mystery-shrouded shooting on the eve of the presidential election of 2004.
So, what the KMT want is someone who can resist political pressure, while giving in to KMT demands. Hmm …
Politics from Taiwan » KMT legislators and Ma Ying-jeou said,
April 13, 2006 at 6:17 pm
[...] In my previous post, I described the KMT decision to veto Hsieh Wen-ding as prosecutor-general. An interesting aspect of this has been the interaction between KMT legislators and their leader: Ma Ying-jeou. It is quite clear that the KMT legislators defied their chairman’s wishes in the vote: “The policy coordination department said that the caucus would hold an open vote on the nomination, but [the caucus] later opposed it. I am surprised [by the decision],” Ma said yesterday morning after presiding over a municipal meeting at Taipei City Hall. [...]
The View from Taiwan said,
April 14, 2006 at 11:25 am
recent rejection of Chen Shui-bian’s appointment for prosecutor-general: In both cases, I would argue that the main issue is that Ma just doesn’t have full control over KMT legislators. Although it’s a tried-and-trusted technique to say positive things in interviews and then conveniently forget about them, I don’t
Politics from Taiwan » KMT legislators and their own party said,
April 20, 2006 at 12:35 pm
[...] Good things come in threes, so to follow my previous two posts, here’s a look at the relationship between KMT legislators and their own party and legislative caucus. The decision by the caucus to force all the legislators to vote the same way in a recent vote has not only highlighted a conflict with KMT Chairman Ma Ying-jeou, but also with some legislators: The KMT caucus showed deep divisions recently during the decision-making process surrounding the confirmation of Hsieh Wen-ding (謝文定), the president’s nomination for state public prosecutor-general. [...]
Politics from Taiwan » Fighting for corruption said,
June 29, 2006 at 4:49 pm
[...] Err … there’s a problem here too. The role of public prosecutor-general (i.e. the most senior prosecutor, which presumably the Taipei Prosecutors Office is answerable to) is also vacant. 2 months ago, the nomination for this post was blocked by (you guessed it) the Legislature. President Chen has since nominated someone different, but the pan-Blues are also threatening to block him too. In a bizare twist, the PFP have promised to block any nomination to this post, on the basis that the DPP is too corrupt. [...]
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