Lee Chiao-ju
李喬如
Member of the Kaohsiung City Council
Assumed office
25 December 2010
ConstituencyGushan, Yancheng, and Cijin districts
Personal details
Born (1957-06-24) June 24, 1957
Pingtung County, Taiwan
Political partyDemocratic Progressive Party
EducationNational Sun Yat-sen University (BA) (MA)
Occupationpolitician
Lee Chiao-ju
Traditional Chinese李喬如
Simplified Chinese李乔如

Lee Chiao-ju (Chinese: 李喬如; born 24 June 1957) is a Taiwanese politician. She is a member of the Kaohsiung City Council for the constituencies of Gushan District, Yancheng District, and Cijin District.[1]

Political policies

In a 2012 district council meeting, Lee proposed that public servants should be assessed by their marital status and whether they have children. She suggested banning single men or women older than 30 years old from running for office,[2] allegedly as a means to address Taiwan's low birth rate. Lee's suggestion was immediately dismissed by Mayor Chen Chu in the meeting,[2] with Chen pointing out that the government must respect human rights.[3]

The incident triggered heated debates in internet chatrooms as to the merits of having children, whilst some individuals called for Lee's dismissal from the DPP.[3] However, Lee defended her proposal, saying that, "Those with such selfish ideas as not wanting to get married and not wanting to have children should shoulder some social responsibility."[2]

Lee has supported regional measures to limit the number of Mainland Chinese tourists to the Sizihwan Scenic Area after complaints by citizens.[4]

Bribery charges

In 2003, accusations were made that 34 members of the City Council had accepted NT$5 million each from the speaker Chu An-hsiung (朱安雄), founder of An Feng Steel, to vote for him in the 2002 election. 24 councillors were convicted, but Lee was found not guilty by a district court. In early 2004, the court rejected the prosecution's appeal against Lee's sentence, whilst seven other councillors were forced to leave their jobs.[5]

In a 2008 court case, the Kaohsiung District Prosecutor's Office alleged that members of the council had taken bribes. This prompted an investigation, which resulted in the prosecution charging Lee and 22 other city council members with corruption in April 2011.[6] The charges focussed on the "assistance fees" that council members had billed people for between 2002-2008 and then not declared. In 2015, the Kaohsiung branch of Taiwan's High Court ruled that the council members had technically accepted bribes and, meanwhile, had attempted to pervert the course of justice. All members received different sentences, with Lee given 1 year and 10 months; the sentence could be exchanged for a fine.[6]

References

  1. ↑ "4.Members Introduction: Lee, Chiao-Ju". Kaohsiung City Council. Archived from the original on 1 August 2017. Retrieved 22 February 2017.
  2. 1 2 3 Loa, Iok-sin (26 May 2012). "'Married with kids' proposal draws ridicule". Taipei Times. Retrieved 22 February 2017.
  3. 1 2 "綠議員李喬如建議 公務員未婚不生考績打丙等" [Green member Lee Chiao-Ju suggests that unmarried and childless office-bearers should be demoted to the third rank]. Et Today (in Chinese). 25 May 2012. Retrieved 22 February 2017.
  4. ↑ Ko, Yo-hao (13 May 2015). "Kaohsiung protests over flood of Chinese tourists". Taipei Times. Retrieved 22 February 2017.
  5. ↑ Chuang, Jimmy (9 January 2004). "Court upholds verdicts on Kaohsiung councilors". Taipei Times. Retrieved 22 February 2017.
  6. 1 2 Secretariat of the Kaohsiung Branch (14 January 2015). "臺灣高等法院高雄分院103年度上訴字第715號高雄市議員詐領助理費案新聞稿" [Press release on the Kaohsiung City Council members charging fraudulent assistance fees case number 717, 2014 appeal to the Kaohsiung city branch of the Taiwanese high court]. Law Taiwan (in Chinese). Retrieved 22 February 2017.
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