20120319 Control Yuan meeting turns nasty

Control Yuan meeting turns nasty

THINKING BIG: Control Yuan President Wang Chien-shien reportedly said that members of one of the watchdog’s committees were only content with achieving small things

Staff Writer, with CNA

Control Yuan President Wang Chien-shien was called a “huge source of chaos” after he got into a tense verbal altercation with members of the government watchdog last week.

During a meeting on Tuesday to discuss whether to make changes to the Control Yuan’s anti-corruption committee, the conversation suddenly became heated after a member, who felt the committee’s powers should not be cut, quoted Confucius (孔子), saying: “[Let’s] get serious only about important matters.”

At that point, Wang reportedly waded into the debate and anonymous witness accounts said he criticized some members as “not doing what they are supposed to do” and “doing only minor things so you will never achieve big things.”

Wang’s unexpected criticism provoked rebuttals from other members, including Hung Teh-shuan (洪德旋) and Li Ful-dien (李復甸), the reports said.

Hung said the topic was being discussed because members had already arrived at a consensus and that they were leaving the minor details regarding political donations and officials’ personal assets to lower-ranking officials to give the watchdog members more time to pursue the “bigger issues.”

“How can you say we’re only pursuing minor things?” Hung was quoted as saying, demanding Wang apologize to the members who had proposed changing the committee’s functions.

However, Wang refused to apologize. Li asked Wang, as chairman of the meeting, to follow the relevant regulations, to which Wang replied he did not know the rules for the meeting, the reports said.

Wang then reportedly reiterated his criticism that some members tended to just “take care of unimportant things.”

Li immediately walked out in protest, while other members continued to argue with Wang, the reports said.

According to witness accounts, Hung said to Wang: “You are chairman of this meeting. Instead of making senseless remarks, you should respect members’ right to speak.”

In response, Wang is reported to have said: “I did not ask you to speak. Why are you speaking?”

An angry Hung reportedly shouted back: “You’ve spoken quite a lot, OK?”

The two engaged in an intense verbal battle for a few minutes before Control Yuan member Hung Chao-nan (洪昭男) proposed calling off the meeting, the reports said.

Several participants subsequently confirmed the meeting was held in a “highly emotional” atmosphere.

Local media quoted Hung Teh-shuan as saying after the meeting that Wang was a man who “loves debate, but never admits to his mistakes.”

Wang’s behavior had amounted to “bullying the meeting,” proof that the Control Yuan chief was a major source of turmoil within the institution, Hung Teh-shuan said.

Hung Teh-shuan challenged Wang to win people’s respect in his capacity as Control Yuan president instead of using his position to bully people.