Assistant Minister of Education Resigns

Assistant Minster of Education Fan Shun-Lu (also spelled Fan Su-Lu and Fan Sun-Lu, but the Chinese characters are 范巽綠) will be resigning from her position. Fan has been one of the most controversial of all DPP appointees. Fan’s appointment became crucial to running the MOE because the Pan-Blue majority in the Legislative Yuan permitted the opposition to interfere with operations. The government was forced to run daily operations of the Ministry through committees set up by the Executive Yuan, thus making political appointees far more important than they otherwise should have been.

I have always maintained that Fan was unqualified for her position and was appointed solely because she has shown great loyalty and service to the DPP. The controversy surrounding her resignation is symptomatic of this problem. A thorough description of her troubles can be found in today’s China Post. Fan, in response, claims that she is resigning because she,

was actually forced out from the DPP government so that Minister Tu can stay on. Minister Tu is on the top of a list of Cabinet officials demanded by opposition parties to step down. However, Tu has gained strong backing from DPP factions that have been actively pushing for Taiwan independence. The DPP leaders’ final decision was to let Fan took the heat and leave so that Minister Tu may remain in the Cabinet, according to the sources.

One interesting point that I found while writing this post. Fan presided over a committee that refused compensation to residents of Lincoln Mansions. She’s not the only one, as you’ll see if you read the article, but this is an interesting tid-but about her that I had missed until now.

January 27, 2006 in People You Should Know | Permalink