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Nuclear energy meet ends in brawl
over attendance
By Lee I-chia / Staff reporter
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT)
Legislator Chen Shu-hui, left, and Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Ho
Hsin-chun, right, argue yesterday over the presence of members of the public at
a legislative committee meeting.
Photo: Lin Cheng-kung, Taipei Times
A meeting of the legislature’s Education
and Culture Committee yesterday to hear a report by the Atomic Energy Council on
comprehensive safety checks at the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant in New Taipei
City’s (新北市) Gongliao District (貢寮) was postponed after legislators quarreled
over whether members of the public should be allowed to attend the meeting.
The committee chair for the session, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP)
Legislator Cheng Li-chiun (鄭麗君), had invited Gongliao residents and members of
anti-nuclear energy groups to attend the session, but the move drew objections
from Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators Chen Shu-hui (陳淑慧) and Kung Wen-chi
(孔文吉).
Fearing a repeat of an incident involving National Tsing Hua University student
Chen Wei-ting (陳為廷), a co-convener of the Youth Alliance Against Media Monsters
— who attended a committee meeting earlier this month and caused controversy by
using strong language while addressing Minister of Education Chiang Wei-ling
(蔣偉寧) — Chen Shu-hui stepped up to the inquiry podium at the beginning of the
meeting and asked the committee chair to vet the participants before opening the
meeting.
Chen Shu-hui’s request prompted DPP legislators to question the
constitutionality of identifying the participants and the dispute devolved into
a quarrel between KMT and DPP legislators, culminating with Chen Shu-hui and DPP
Legislator Ho Hsin-chun (何欣純) shouting loudly at each another and banging on the
podium.
“None of us legislators want to see these incidences of violence in the
committee” and “We only want to know who these participants are,” Chen Shu-hui
shouted as he was surrounded by several legislators from both parties, adding
that the meeting should not be allowed to proceed.
Cheng said the members of the public were only registered to listen to the
meeting and will not speak at the podium, and stressed that the Legislative Yuan
should not seal itself from the public, which would be a setback of democracy.
After the meeting was suspended, one of the participants from the civic sector,
Yenliao Anti-Nuclear Self-Help Association secretary-general Yang Mu-huo (楊木火),
asked if it was possible for those who live near the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant
to be present when matters directly affecting their livelihoods and health are
discussed.
“Can’t we even listen to the meeting?” Yang asked.
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