Public say in arms deal needed

The government's NT$610.8 billion budget for the purchase of weapons is set to become the most important issue at the legislature's new session.

Considering defense ministry's intensive promotion of the budget, it appears the government is hoping to build public support for the purchase.

The arms deal faces two obstacles. The first is the question of whether the massive sum of NT$610.8 billion is an appropriate amount to purchase weapons. The second is the procedural aspect of the deal, meaning what kind of democratic procedure should it go through. In our opposition to it, we'd like to address the latter aspect of the arms procurement deal.

Before the budget is goes to a vote in the legislature, the government should carry out a televised debate on the appropriateness of the arms deal. The Ministry of Defense recently published three announcements urging public support for the deal. Two interest groups, the Anti-Arms Purchasing Alliance and the Democratic Action Alliance, released a 10,000-word petition in early July against the procurement. Print and broadcast media have also provided space for a range of views on the bill. However, there has been on organized public debate where opposing views can be challenged or rebutted. We think democratic politics is about rational, public discussion, rather than the ruling party unilaterally expressing its view by way of advantageous access to the media. An organized debate would help the public fully understand the arguments and counter-arguments with respect to the arms procurement deal and come to their own conclusions. Therefore, it is a reasonable request that the government take the initiative and hold a televised debate with opponents of the deal.

Further, all political parties should allow a free vote on the bill according to a legislator's conscience. Party discipline should not be enforced in this matter.

And the size of the budget provides an opportunity for kickbacks and other forms of corruption to take place behind the scenes, it is not surprising that many legislators are rumored to have accepted bribes from groups or individuals in the US who have an interest in seeing the bill pass.

The arms procurement bill also affects the amount of capital set aside for other needs such as social welfare, culture and education. Every legislator, therefore, has to consider how the arms deal would benefit his or her constituents. How individual legislators vote on the arms purchase bill will also become tied to how people vote in the year-end legislative elections.

Finally, the public should have the option of a national referendum regarding the arms purchase bill. We believe that this bill is closely related to the welfare of the people and cannot be decided by one party or one person, nor should it be decided by legislators who serve only a term of three years. If the legislature can't be trusted to carefully and thoroughly consider the pros and cons of the arms purchase, it should still be submitted to a referendum of the people.

As such, the Anti-Arms Purchasing Alliance and the Democratic Action Alliance will be asking anti-purchase legislators to bring into effect Article 16 of the Referendum Law and initiate a referendum on the issue.

We hope that political parties and legislators, regardless of whether they are for or against the arms purchase, understand the importance of this issue to the future well-being of Taiwan. Therefore they should not oppose submitting this issue to the people for a final decision.

The arms purchase bill affects our national security, the direction of cross-strait relations and government spending. This expensive purchase will siphon off money that could otherwise be spent on education and social welfare. It is intimately connected with the lives of ordinary people and is by far the most important policy promoted by the government in recent years. If Taiwan wishes to become a more mature and democratic society, public consultation is something that cannot be ignored.

We hope that both the government and the public can respect this reasonable demand, and that the people get to have a meaningful say on the matter.

Chang Ya-chung is a professor of political science at National Taiwan University and the convener of the Anti-Arms Purchasing Alliance. Hsieh Ta-nin is a professor of Chinese at the National Chung Cheng University and is the convener of the Democratic Action Alliance.

Translated by Jennie Shih and Ian Bartholomew