KMT lawmaker's stipend bill greeted with skepticism in Legislature

Taipei, Dec. 11 (CNA) Kuomintang (KMT) Legislator Chen Yu-jen's (陳玉珍) proposal to give elected officials full control over salary stipends for their assistants has drawn sharp criticism from the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and a lukewarm response from would-be allies.

Chen's proposal, comprised of amendments to the Organic Act of the Legislative Yuan and a similar law governing elected local officials, was brought up for preliminary debate in committee Thursday, as a cross-party group of Legislative aides petitioned for its withdrawal.

Under current laws, Taiwanese legislators receive a personal salary of NT$190,500 (US$6,092) per month.

They also have monthly stipends of around NT$470,000 to pay the salaries of their assistants, plus up to NT$90,000 for overtime pay (roughly NT$560,000 total), but the funds are paid directly to the assistants by the Legislative Yuan.

Chen's bill, meanwhile, would allow legislators and local councilors to manage the assistant salary allowances by themselves, without having to provide invoices for reimbursement.

Legislative Yuan debate

In the committee hearing, DPP lawmaker Chuang Jui-hsiung (莊瑞雄) said he would leave it to the public to judge whether it is reasonable to include assistants' salaries as a part of the salaries of legislators.

"What's even more frightening about this bill is the exemption from providing invoices for reimbursement," Chuang said, warning that it would open the door for public funds to be put to private use.

Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) of the Taiwan People's Party (TPP) -- whose eight lawmakers often join the KMT to give it a legislative majority -- said his "bottom line" on the bill was that public funds must be for public use.

Concerns that the amendments could be used to help certain individuals "get off the hook" also need to be discussed, he said.

Huang was referring to criticism that the bill would effectively decriminalize a common form of corruption in Taiwan, in which lawmakers attempt to pocket stipends by hiring their relatives or friends as assistants, often without them doing any actual work.

Meanwhile, KMT lawmaker Weng Hsiao-ling (翁曉玲) criticized how Chen's bill has been portrayed in the media, and denied that the money would go into lawmakers' personal accounts or be used to benefit themselves.

But she also stopped short of supporting it, saying there is "room for discussion" on the current bill, some of whose content she "doesn't necessarily approve of."

Legislative assistants' petition

Ahead of the debate on Thursday, a group of legislative aides publicly called on lawmakers to support a petition calling on Chen to withdraw her bill.

The petition, which had been signed by over 300 aides from all three parties in the Legislature as of Thursday morning, said the proposed changes would be a "serious setback" for the labor rights of legislative assistants.

At the event, TPP lawmaker Chen Gao-tzu (陳昭姿) said that she, as well as every assistant in her office, had signed the petition.

She said TPP Chairman Huang Kuo-chang had asked two of the party's lawmakers to study Chen's proposal, adding that it was possible they would propose a "compromise version."

Discussing the petition earlier this week, KMT Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) also sounded noncommittal, saying that while he respected each lawmaker's right to propose legislation, "any legal change should not infringe on legislative assistants' labor rights."