A HOUSE DIVIDED?The DPP denied a report in the ‘China Times’ that it had blocked the nominations, saying those not approved had been vetoed by KMT members
By Chris Wang / Staff reporter
The failure of a review meeting to approve the Public Television Service’s (PTS) fifth board of directors on Monday owed more to Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) internal strife than the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) boycott, DPP caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) said yesterday.
Ker rebutted a Chinese-language China Times editorial published yesterday that said the boycott was why only three board members and two supervisors from a list of 14 board nominees and four supervisor nominees were approved.
“The truth is that the KMT-recommended members vetoed those who did not pass the threshold,” Ker told a press conference.
A threshold of three-quarters of the 15-member review committee, which is formed in proportion to party representation in the Legislative Yuan, is required to approve a prospective board member for the PTS.
Eight of the 15 members of the review committee were recommended by the KMT, followed by the DPP’s five and one each recommended by the People First Party (PFP) and the Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU).
Despite five board members and one supervisor being approved one-and-a-half years ago, PTS’s fifth board of directors still has not been established after three review meetings.
The DPP’s position has been clear, Ker said, adding that the party insisted that the system be independent and free from political interference.
Ker also denied the editorial’s accusation that the DPP used the confirmation voting to try to secure the appointment of Chen You-shiu (陳郁秀), wife of late DPP politician Lu Hsiu-yi (盧修一), as PTS chairperson.
He said Monday’s meeting was similar to what happened to the screening of a proposed capital gains tax on securities transactions in the last legislative session, when KMT lawmakers did not support an amendment proposal submitted by their own party.
“However, the KMT is now trying to make the DPP the scapegoat for its own internal strife,” Ker said.
Liu Ching-hsing (劉進興), one of the DPP-recommended members, said none of the seven votes received by the three nominees who failed to pass the threshold in the first two rounds came from members recommended by the KMT.
“In other words, it was the KMT blocking those candidates nominated by the Ministry of Culture in its own administration,” Liu said.
“It appeared that some people in the KMT did not like the candidates and interfered with the confirmation process,” he said.