The Gongdumeng revealed that seven Kuomintang candidates for county and city chiefs have not disclosed information related to conflicts of interest. (Provided by Gongdumeng)
The general election is approaching, but recently many political figures have been involved in conflicts of interest, assistant fees and other controversies, including the student exchange case involving the son of Taipei Mayor Chiang Wanan, the case of Kuomintang legislator Chen Xuesheng being involved in fraudulently claiming assistant fees, and the case of legislator Gao Jin Sumei being involved in corruption. The Public Supervisory Alliance held a press conference today to demand that legislators who have not yet disclosed information about conflicts of interest should disclose it before September 18 before the meeting, and named the seven KMT legislators Jiang Qichen, Ke Zhien and others who are vying for county and city leaders to disclose it as soon as possible, otherwise it calls on voters to boycott it.
The Public Supervisory Alliance made three major demands: 1. Legislators who have not yet disclosed information about conflicts of interest should disclose it before September 18, and those running for county and city leaders should disclose it to voters; 2. President Han Guoyu should promote the self-discipline reform of Congress as soon as possible and formally institutionalize the disclosure of conflicts of interest among legislators; 3. The Legislative Yuan should establish a classified contact classification, security review and confidentiality responsibility mechanism for congressional assistants to close national security loopholes.
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Lin Meina, executive supervisor of the Public Supervisory Alliance, said that the nine-in-one general election is approaching at the end of the year, and many current legislators are running for county and city chief elections, so they should be inspected to a higher standard. A legislator uses about tens of millions of yuan in subsidies for public assistants, inspections and service offices every year. Once he is transferred to the head of a county or city, he will have tens of billions or even hundreds of billions of local government budgets in his hands, as well as even larger personnel, procurement, engineering, subsidies and external exchange resources.
CEO Zhang Honglin emphasized that the Public Supervisory Alliance requires legislators to independently disclose the employment of publicly funded assistants, overseas inspections, part-time and important positions, and lobbying contacts. These issues have nothing to do with party opposition or ideology. They are the most basic politics of responsibility. If the legislator is unwilling to be transparent during his tenure, he will only amplify the risk of being a black box when he is transferred to a county or city chief who has greater human and budget resources. Voters will use their votes to hold politicians accountable.
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Zhang Honglin pointed out that the PCG has been pushing legislators to independently disclose information on conflicts of interest since 2013, but so far, only 48 legislators have taken the initiative to disclose information during this session, and no one from the Kuomintang or the People's Party has disclosed it. The Kuomintang also refused to disclose the information in the past, only to disclose it again after losing the election. Now it has made the same mistake again, which shows that voters should use the votes in their hands to check and balance. Legislators cannot demand transparency from administrative departments on a regular basis, but then have "double standards" when it is their turn, leaving their interests in a black box.
He pointed out that especially this year, a total of 19 current legislators participated in the election of local chiefs, setting a new high for simultaneous elections of municipal mayors and county mayors. They should be tested by the people. Among the candidates who have not voluntarily disclosed information about conflicts of interest include KMT Taichung mayor candidate Jiang Qichen, Tainan mayor candidate Xie Longjie, Kaohsiung mayor candidate Ke Zhien, Hsinchu County mayor candidate Xu Xinying, Yunlin County mayor candidate Zhang Jiajun, Yilan County mayor candidate Wu Zongxian, and Kinmen County mayor candidate Chen Yuzhen.
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Deng Leqiang, a candidate for Taiwan's Kejin Songshan Xinyi District, warned that if conflict of interest information is disclosed after the election, it will lose its function as a basis for voters to judge their votes. Local chiefs have highly centralized administrative discretion such as land use, urban planning, public works, and development permits. A single decision may directly affect specific land, businesses, or family interests. Therefore, the obligation of transparency is not limited to the central government.
Power of the Times Zhang Yuci, candidate for Zhubei East District, Hsinchu County, pointed out that concurrently holding corporate or group positions and using public-funded assistants should be the most basic transparent requirement for representatives of the public opinion. However, the current system still relies heavily on the self-discipline of legislators. Now that these black-box legislators are about to enter the election, can voters trust them with their votes? Among them, Hsinchu County Magistrate candidate Xu Xinying has not disclosed relevant information on her own. No matter which party or candidate, as long as they want to move from Congress to local administration, they should disclose part-time job, political and business relations, and assistant employment information before voting, so that voters can judge for themselves whether they are trustworthy.
Taiwan Green Party Chiang Kai-shek Wanhua District parliamentary candidate Wang Zhenting said that in addition to salary, legislators can also use a large number of public resources such as publicly funded assistants and overseas inspections. Information disclosure is the most basic responsibility to taxpayers. However, at present, there is still a lack of complete mandatory disclosure of information on assistant hiring, part-time work, publicly funded inspections, and even self-funded trips to China, Hong Kong and Macao. In particular, congressional aides may have access to bills, budgets, and sensitive information. Lack of transparency not only involves public funds, but may also cause national security concerns. Congress and local councils can no longer rely solely on self-discipline, but should move towards institutionalized and legalized information disclosure.
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Chen Liyi, deputy chief executive of the Public Oversight Alliance, said that the disclosure of legislative assistant recruitment information not only prevents fraudulent assistant fees, but also involves congressional security. In recent years, there have been a series of cases involving Communist espionage involving legislative assistants and political party staff. The National Security Bureau has also warned that it should consider establishing a security review mechanism for congressional assistants to access confidential information. If there is no transparency about who is hired and who has access to sensitive information, it will be difficult to prevent national security risks early.
He emphasized that the Legal Affairs Bureau of the current Legislative Yuan and Secretary-General Zhou Wanlai have pointed out in the past that the current regulations on conflicts of interest for legislators are seriously insufficient compared with foreign countries. Since both the ruling and opposition legislators have recognized the importance of information in the past, they should not "make excuses" but should take the initiative to disclose and promote the amendment of the law. President Han Guoyu quickly convened the government and the opposition to expose conflicts of interest and institutionalize smart information security management, making power visible and building people's trust.
Since 2013, the Public Oversight Alliance has promoted legislators to independently disclose information on conflicts of interest. However, so far, only 48 legislators have taken the initiative to disclose information during this session, and no one from the Kuomintang or the People's Party has disclosed it. (Provided by Gongdumeng)
