Reuters posted this under the heading âOddly Enough News.â USA Today and others posted it under the heading âOffbeat.â
[quote]Lawmakers in Food Fight Over Arms Budget
Tue Oct 26, 2004
TAIPEI (Reuters) - A food fight erupted in Taiwanâs parliament on Tuesday as lawmakers quarrelling over a massive arms budget hurled their lunch boxes at each other.
âYouâve got no shame!â screamed Chu Fong-chih of the opposition Nationalist Party, after throwing a take-out box of chicken and rice at Chen Tsung-yi, a legislator from the ruling Democratic Progressive Party who backed the special budget. Chen responded by accusing Chu of sympathizing with Taiwanâs arch-foe China, and flung his own lunch box at her.
Taiwanâs parliament is notorious for fistfights, with many lawmakers enjoying the media attention when scuffles break out. Chairs and shoes have also been known to fly across the chamber on occasion.
Legislators were meeting on Tuesday to decide if a proposed $18 billion budget to buy weapons from the United States should be put on the legislative agenda for Friday. [/quote] wwwi.reuters.com/images/w148/amdf739372.jpg
[quote]One minute they were sitting in a conference hall having lunch, engaged in a strongly worded discussion about international arms sales.
The next minute it was the lunch that was doing the talking, as the islandâs lawmakers hurled rice, meat, vegetables and even hard-boiled eggs across the room.[/quote] news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/3954847.stm
I was listening to them talk about it on the radio while I was driving to work this morning. The news anchor joked that things like are common enough in Taiwan that they probably have a budget set aside for cleaning up after the fights.
Does anybody think that this causes problems with other countries taking Taiwan seriously? Iâm not trying to start a fight. Iâm wondering if they are doing themselves a dis-service when this makes international news.
It should. Can Taiwanâs government be trusted to act responsibly with its weapons when they canât even discuss the subject like responsible adults? Next time PRC bans an A-Mei commercial will Taiwan retaliate with Patriot missiles?
Itâs not like this is the first ridiculous incident from Taiwan. Read the articles on this incident and youâll see Taiwanâs lawmakers already have a reputation for such stuff. And think back a few months and recall how the world laughed at Taiwan for alleged presidential self-assasination conspiracy theory. I received e-mails then from several people back home wondering whatâs the deal with Taiwan.
Joining the WTO was a big step for Taiwan towards joining the rest of hte world, but theyâve got to quit acting like this if they want to be taken seriously by outsiders.
Disgraceful. Is it possible to go visit these legislators in their offices and ask them what the hell theyâre doing? Iâve been paying taxes here for years and years now - paying these jokersâ salaries, and Iâd like to give them an earful.
Itâs like the segment in the movie CAT IN THE HAT from the Dr Seuss book last year, now on DVD, that includes a quick scene of Taiwan pols fighting it out in Parliament. Now itâs lunch boxes. Will Taiwanâs pols never grow up? Itâs shocking, shocking.
The people of Taiwan deserve much better representation than the oafs they currently have occupying the chairs now.
Despicable and ignorant behaviour such as this confirms what fools they have elected.
Hopefully this will further illustrate this to them.
Thatâs assuming they care about what outsiders think. The more relevant question: do you think any of the jokers involved will fail to be reelected in a months time? I donât (or at least, this wonât have adversely affected their chances much)
Maybe, just maybe, the reduction in the size & makeup of the legislature will get rid of the worst idiotsâŚ
[quote=âTainanCowboyâ]The people of Taiwan deserve much better representation than the oafs they currently have occupying the chairs now.
Despicable and ignorant behaviour such as this confirms what fools they have elected.
Hopefully this will further illustrate this to them.[/quote]
But the point is that they did elect them. So you could say that the kind of representatives they have in the legislature reflect their electorate. Whenever I point out ridiculous things like this to my Taiwanese friends, they just shake their heads and say, âThis is just the way Taiwan is.â Very few people care, nor do they care about how theyâre viewed by the international community, which is sad. The most pressing concerns for most are the latest cell phone models and $$$. Let freedom ring âŚ
Well, at least the a⌠of my wife is quite responsive and not dumb.
Seriously, Taiwan people seem to have a total different attitude. Most, including my wife, seem to see the politicians as show people. They do not understand why they cause such great damage to their country by behaving like this.
The only thing many people in other countries ever get to know about Taiwan are the occasional Taiwan strait escalations and riots in parlament.
If I were in the government Iâd campaign for a law that requires licenses for not only video cameras but loudspeakers as well. Youâd have to prove you could operate one responsibly before you could buy the damn things:
âPlanning to film crazy protesting legislator guy? Sorry. And weâll just take that fake blood, ok?â
âSorry, youâre singing off-key, no more amplified karaoke for you. Back to the showers with ye!â
What would really make a difference, maybe, is if there was a new rule that fined such behavior, like around NT$1 million, payable by the individual(s) or his/her/their partyâŚand donated to a non-profit welfare association like an orphanâs home etc.
Throwing water, throwing food, throwing reports, anything like that, a big fine.
But then again, this being Taiwan, nobody really cares, least of all the electorate. Did you see the other lawmakers in that room smiling when it all happened, like itâs a big joke?