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Ma suspends
‘committee of five’ meeting
TAKING A STANCE: ‘Necessary changes’ to
government events would be made due to Ma’s intolerance of Wang Jin-pyng’s
alleged involvement in an undue influence case
By Stacy Hsu / Staff Writer, with CNA
Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng
is greeted by supporters during a visit to his family home in Greater
Kaohsiung’s Lujhu District yesterday.
Photo: Su Fu-nan, Taipei Times
The Presidential Office said yesterday
that it would suspend the weekly meeting of “the committee of five,” of which
Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) is a member, one day after the court
ruled in favor of Wang’s provisional injunction seeking to retain his Chinese
Nationalist Party (KMT) membership and position as head of the legislature.
In response to the verdict, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), who is also the KMT
chairman, decided to make “necessary changes” with regard to Wang’s
participation in the government events, “except those that are essential to the
basic operation of the government and are of constitutional significance, such
as the traditional practice for premiers to make a report to the legislature,
the Presidential Office’s monthly meeting and the National Day ceremony,”
Presidential Office spokesperson Lee Chia-fei (李佳霏) said.
“Necessary changes” would be made to other government events, including the
suspension of the weekly meeting of the committee of five, which comprises of
Ma, Wang, Vice President Wu Den-yih (吳敦義), Premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺), and KMT
Secretary-General Tseng Yung-chuan (曾永權), Lee said.
The president has also decided to meet with KMT legislators in small groups
before the new legislative session begins on Tuesday, instead of holding a tea
gathering including the legislative speaker as is traditional practice, Lee
said.
The changes were made due to Ma’s intolerance of the legislative speaker’s
alleged involvement in an undue influence case and that the president would
never change his stance on the matter, Lee said.
“However, the president respects the court’s ruling,” Lee added.
The Taipei District Court on Friday agreed to allow Wang to retain his KMT
membership and rights until the case is settled by courts after the legislative
speaker submitted a guarantee of about NT$9.38 million (US$314,300).
Wang filed the provisional injunction on Wednesday, shortly after his KMT
membership was revoked by the party’s Central Evaluation and Discipline
Committee for his alleged illegal lobbying in a lawsuit involving Democratic
Progressive Party caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘).
Meanwhile, a KMT member in charge of party affairs, who spoke on condition of
anonymity, said yesterday that as the party no longer considered Wang a KMT
legislator-at-large and legislative speaker, it would exclude Wang from all of
its future events.
“Since Wang’s party membership was revoked on Wednesday and the Central Election
Committee notified the Legislative Yuan of the decision on the same day, Wang is
technically no longer a KMT legislator-at-large and legislative speaker,” the
party member said.
“Therefore, it is natural that the party stop inviting Wang to party events and
meetings that are normally attended by the legislative speaker and KMT
legislators-at-large,” the member said.
KMT caucus whip Lin Hung-chih (林鴻池) said that the party had canceled a
pre-session meeting of the administrative and legislative branches scheduled for
tomorrow and decided to hold a party caucus meeting instead, which would be
attended only by legislators, not including Wang.
It has been a traditional practice for the KMT to hold a pre-session meeting
with the premier, the legislative speaker, Cabinet members, the party chairman
and party legislators on the eve of a new legislative session, to discuss the
party’s stances on major bills and national policies.
This will be the first time that the party has canceled such a meeting.
Separately, the Executive Yuan issued a press release yesterday saying that
Jiang would direct Executive Yuan members to deliver a policy report to the
legislature and participate in an interpellation session on the opening day of
the new legislative session on Tuesday as scheduled.
“It is the constitutional duty of the premier to make a policy report to the
legislature and that will not change merely because of the controversy over the
legislative speaker’s eligibility to serve in the legislature,” the press
release said.
In response, Wang said yesterday that he respected the decisions to call off the
“committee of five” and the presession meeting and that he would continue to
handle legislative affairs based on the principles of justice, fairness and
neutrality.
When asked if seeing Jiang at the legislature on Tuesday would be awkward, given
the premier’s repeated calls for him to resign as the legislative speaker, Wang
said: “Awkward? Not at all. They are all Buddhas to me.”
“We have all worked together for so long and have been through a lot together. I
will handle the situation with a respectful and courteous mindset,” Wang added.
As for opposition parties’ plan to boycott Jiang’s scheduled report, Wang said
that opposition parties did loathe the idea of inviting the premier to the
legislature, but that they had come to terms with the arrangement after he
helped them reached a consensus on the matter during a party negotiation on
Friday.
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