Quote of the Week

Ma exhorts KMT legislators to be more agressive - photo from the Taipei Times by CHIEN JUNG-FONG

From the Taipei Times:

"President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday lauded Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators' efforts to pass the amendment to the Local Government Act (地方制度法) on Monday, vowing to assert the party's dominance in the legislature"

“We respected the opinions of the minority parties, but they still boycotted the bill for no reason. I fully support the action taken by the KMT legislative caucus and hope to push through more bills using the same method,” the president said.

"“It is not my problem alone, but that of the whole party,” he said. “As the chairman, I must change the situation. We are not the ruling party if we cannot make such changes.”"

Obviously there is no sense of irony at work here or Ma might have had to consider the actions of the KMT in the Legislative Yuan from 2005 to 2008 when the party effectively boycotted and blocked almost the entirety of the DPP's Government's legislative agenda when it was the ruling party. Again, Ma stands not on principle but on practicality. E.G: Oppose oranges today then support them tomorrow whilst saying he had always supported them and accusing opponents of irrationality. Additionally, the DPP did not boycott the amendments to the Local Government act just for the sake of opposition but because the bill reduced aboriginal self-determination and democratic representation as well as utterly undermining democracy by allowing existing district heads to remain in position, even after the municipal elections when they should rightfully step down. The real eye opener is that Ma supports ramming through bills by physical force and has encouraged his party to do more of the same. In a normal political system, parties should work together and negotiate (as actually happens a lot in Taiwan but is mostly underreported) and when it comes to a vote, NO party should use force to prevent it occurring. The problem here comes either when one party has a large majority in the Legislature or when the Government party has a minority in the Legislature. The former situation leads to ruling party hubris and disregard for public opinion (the elective majority is regarded as proof of public opinion on all issues for the full term) and the latter, in Taiwan's semi-presidential system, leads to impasse where the Legislature blocks all Government bills and prevents the ruling party from making changes it was elected to carry out.

Thus in Taiwan there is a basic conflict of representational authority. Which body is the legitimate voice of public opinion - the Presidency or the Legislature? Since both Legislature and the Presidency are directly elected, both institutions claim a mandate that could be at odds, as they were between 2005 and 2008. This is the result of an incomplete constitutional reform process shaped by parties concerns to secure electoral advantage whilst not officially changing too much that would overtly signal to the US and China a move to greater Taiwan sovereignty.

In other news:

- Legislative Speak Wang claimed that the Legislative Yuan could reject the ECFA and ask the Government to make amendments

- President Ma again said that negotiating ECFA would be transparent and subject to legislative oversight as long as that does not adversely affect negotiations and relations between the negotiating parties

- Proposed judicial reform law will hold defence lawyers in contempt of court and contempt of prosecutors in a move that mirrors PRC law: this, like the law banning university staff from political involvement smacks, of bringing Taiwan law and freedoms down to be in line with PRC law. The end of democracy will not come with a bang but with a legislative vote that legalises it in all but name. I quote Star Wars: "So this is how democracy ends, in thunderous applause (of legislators)."