PDF(2.7mb) - 國家政策研究基金會

Exercise of the Powers of Examination and Control 123
vice president of the Examination Yuan.
At their recommendation, President Ma Ying-jeou
nominated Wang Chien-shien ( 王 建 煊 ), a former leader
of the New Party, and Shen Fu-hsiung ( 沈 富 雄 ), an
ex-legislator of the Democratic Progressive Party, as
president and vice president of the Control Yuan. Ma
did not name proportionately enough candidates from
among the ranks of his ruling Kuomintang, which won
a virtual three-fourths majority in the new 113-seat
Legislative Yuan. Wang was confirmed by a vote of 74
for and 36 against. Shen’s nomination was rejected by a
vote of 51 for and 56 against. Also rejected were
three other nominees: Hsu Ping-chin ( 許 炳 進 ), Chen
Yao-chang ( 陳 耀 昌 ), Yu Mei-nu ( 尤 美 女 ). The new
Control Yuan was inaugurated on July 1, 2008.
The nomination of candidates for the Examining
Yuan also hit a snag. Ma nominated Chang Chun-yen
( 張 俊 彥 ), former president of National Chiao Tung
University regarded as Taiwan’s father of the semiconductor
in Taiwan, to head the Examination Yuan.
Chang served as a national policy advisor to President
Chen Shui-bian. Besides, he was reported to have received
long-time financial support from Wayne Pai ( 白
文 正 ), chairman of the Polaris Group ( 寶 來 集 團 ), the
second largest securities brokerage in Taiwan who was
said to have obtained a Chiao Tung honorary doctorate
by bribery. Pai committed suicide in July 2008 and
Chang immediately withdrew his candidacy.
Ma knew he had to mend fence with the Kuomintang
majority in the Legislative Yuan. And he succeeded
in getting all of his other nominees, including
Wu Jin-lin for vice president, confirmed by the nation’s
highest legislative organ. On September 12, Ma nominated
Kuan Chung as president of the Examination Yuan.
Kuan, confirmed by a vote of 85 for and none
against on November 14, was inaugurated on December
1.
5. Conclusion
The Kuomintang government follows Dr. Sun
Yat-sen’s five-power government principle enshrined in
the Constitution. President Ma Ying-jeou does not want
to launch constitutional reform, though he is willing to
consider the need for reform two years from now. A
constitutional amendment, initiated and approved by
the Legislative Yuan, still needs to be put to a referendum.
As the Kuomintang is relatively reluctant to initiate
a referendum, a constitutional reform is not likely to
begin in the near future. The five-power government
system is in place.
On the other hand, President Ma hopes corruption
and graft will be rooted out and integrity of the government
restored. It is likely that Taiwan may establish
an institution like the Independent Commission Against
Corruption (ICAC) in Hong Kong or the Corrupt Practices
Investigation Bureau (CPIB) in Singapore to help
exercise the power of control to fight corruption and
graft.
President Chen Shui-bian advocated a downgrading
of the Examination Yuan, not abolition of the power
of examination per se. It may be an option in the future,
but for now the Examination Yuan will continue to
function according to the Constitution.
Since he insists on the separation of five powers
and considers the Control and Examination Yuan independent
branches of the government, President Ma did
not take party affiliation into consideration in making
nominations for them. That is why he nominated
non-Kuomintang members as candidates for presidents
and vice presidents of the two yuan. No political parties
were dominantly represented in them, either. The
possibility of political interference therefore is minimized.
But Ma’s strictly neutral stand vis-à-vis the nominations
to uphold his political idealism met with resistance
from his ruling Kuomintang. Political reality often
distorts the rational evaluation of politicians. His
nominees for president of the Examination and vice
president of the Control Yuan were rejected. In
fact, some Kuomintang legislators opposed Wang