《TAIPEI TIMES》 KMT lawmakers unhappy not to be able to see Tsai

MIFFED: The president cannot distance herself from former Transitional Justice Commission deputy chairman Chang Tien-chin, as it seems she nominated him, William Tseng said

By Sean Lin / Staff reporter

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Chinese Nationalist Party （KMT） lawmakers yesterday complained that they had not been able to meet with President Tsai Ing-wen （蔡英文） over the Transitional Justice Commission’s alleged breach of neutrality.

Eight lawmakers — Johnny Chiang （江啟臣）, William Tseng （曾銘宗）, John Wu （吳志揚）, Lin Te-fu （林德福）, Huang Chao-shun （黃昭順）, Apollo Chen （陳學聖）, Yosi Takun （孔文吉） and Lin Li-chan （林麗蟬） — went to the Presidential Office Building in the morning in the hope of meeting with Tsai about the commission.

The KMT lawmakers were first greeted by the head of the First Bureau and then Democratic Progressive Party （DPP） caucus whip Ker Chien-ming （柯建銘） and DPP caucus director-general Lee Chun-yi （李俊俋）, which prompted them to leave.

The Presidential Office cannot distance itself from the commission controversy, as six of its nine members said in an April qualification review by the legislature that they had either been approached by Presidential Office Deputy Secretary-General Jason Liu （劉建忻） or then-Presidential Office deputy secretary-general Yao Jen-to （姚人多）, which suggests that the nominations were made by Tsai, Chiang said.

In a leaked audio recording of a commission meeting last month, then-commission deputy chairman Chang Tien-chin （張天欽） was heard calling New Taipei City Deputy Mayor Hou You-yi （侯友宜） the most egregious transitional justice case, and saying that the public should be turned against Hou.

The office has blamed the incident on Chang’s personality, which is unacceptable, Chiang said, adding that having Ker and Lee greet the lawmakers instead of Tsai proves that the DPP is determined to prevent the commission’s budget from being rejected by the KMT caucus in the next legislative session.

The recording showed it was not an isolated case, but the result of a deeper problem, Tseng said.

Claiming that Tsai had nominated Chang, Tseng said she should assume the political fallout.

Chen, the KMT’s Taoyuan mayoral candidate, criticized the DPP for using a state-sanctioned agency to put opposition candidates at a disadvantage in the Nov. 24 nine-in-one elections.

The KMT caucus demanded that Tsai take responsibility for the incident and that the commission be abolished, while vowing to track down the remaining “Chang Tien-chins” in the DPP administration.

新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES