By Chris Wang / Staff reporter
President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) nominations for Control Yuan president and Examination Yuan president were “political rewards” and solid evidence that the two government branches have become the most valueless organs in the nation’s constitutional system, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday.
Ma has nominated Central Election Commission Chairperson Chang Po-ya (張博雅) as president of the Control Yuan, while Examination Yuan Vice President Wu Jin-lin (伍錦霖) was nominated as its president.
The nominations still have to be approved by the Legislative Yuan.
“Like the majority of the public, the DPP does not expect the new nominees to make any positive achievements,” DPP spokesperson Lin Chun-hsien (林俊憲) told a press conference.
Outgoing Control Yuan President Wang Chien-hsien (王建?) has been a controversial figure in the past six years with his outrageous comments, Lin said.
Chang is no stranger to controversy either, Lin added, as she has been questioned many times about being Ma’s “hired thug” in various cases, such as the speedy revocation of Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng’s (王金平) Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) membership in September last year, when Ma allegedly launched a plot to remove Wang.
“On top of that, the Control Yuan has failed to function as the government watchdog during the same period, which amounts to malfeasance,” Lin said.
With regards to the Examination Yuan, the agency has not yet enforced any reform to the civil servants’ pension program, an issue that drew nationwide attention and a policy Ma said would be implemented so that government finances would be sustainable and social justice would be addressed, Lin said.
Ironically, Wu, the president-designate who is tasked with the implementation of pension reform, was among those who have opposed the cancelation of the 18 percent preferential rates, formally known as the Preferential Saving Rates for Retirement Pension of Military Officials, Civil Servants and Educators (軍公教退休優惠存款), Lin said.
Therefore, Wu’s nomination raises concerns about the Ma administration’s determination to push for the crucial reform, Lin added.
Wu first served as vice president of the Examination Yuan from January 2008 to February 2011, before he was appointed secretary-general of the Presidential Office. He was transferred back to his position at the Examination Yuan a year later, Lin said, adding that it showed that Ma “only picks high-ranking officials who are his confidants and those who obey his orders.”