Lawmakers of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), the People First Party (PFP), and the Independent Lawmakers Alliance (無黨籍聯盟) joined hands across party lines at the Sep. 27 legislative session and changed the agenda to include the proposed national communications commission bill, the cross-strait peace advancement bill, an ammendment to the March 19 Shooting Truth Investigation Special Committee statute (三一九真相調查委員會組織法), an ammendment to the the Central Election Commission Law (中央選舉委員會組織法), and several other bills.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers had requested to a recount of the ballot several times during the session in order to obstruct some of these bills, but their attempts were unsuccessful given their numerical disadvantage. As a result, they could only stage a protest and leave the meeting in order to paralyze the legislature.
Over the past five years, the pan-blue camp has always enjoyed a clear majority in the legislature. Therefore, almost every bill introduced by the DPP needs the support of the pan-blue alliance to enable it to pass. This phenomenon is best exemplified by the long-stalled arms-procurement package, which continues to flounder in the legislature.
Regarding other bills proposed by the pan-blue camp, although they are opposed by DPP lawmakers, who earnestly call for more cross-party negotiations on the bills, they are likely to be passed when they are brought before the legislature four months later. The March 19 Investigation Truth Committee Statute is a good example of the uphill battle that the DPP is continually fighting.
The fact that the DPP government has been in such a predicament over the last five years, is partly do to with a number of its own failings, but the crucial obstacle to its ability to govern effectively has been because of the minority government structure. In Western nations, a majority government is the norm, and minority governments are the result of political compromises where no other alternatives exist. Naturally, opposition parties will try to use this situation to their best advantage.
In order for a minority government to operate effectively, it must make concessions to the opposition. The problem with Taiwan's present situation is that the minority government has virtually no support from the other parties. Most believe that the legislative majority should form the government, but President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) insists that the government is completely led by the ruling DPP, a legislative minority. This puts the minority government at a disadvantage from the beginning, and this is exacerbated by the ideological confrontation between the pan-green and pan-blue camps.
The DPP government thinks that the opposition should not obstruct legislative bills proposed by the ruling party. But, in a democratic nation, the opposition can never relinquish its role in monitoring and balancing power in the government. If the opposition supports the ruling party's bills, once these bills become a subject of controversy, could the opposition then shirk any responsibility?
Because the opposition has no substantial administrative power, it is inappropriate for it to take responsibility for the failure of policy. Besides, due to the opposition's majority status in the legislature, it has the ability to determine whether to allow the passage of legislative bills and government budgets, thereby totally undermining the government's executive authority.
On the other hand, on the pretext that the legislature has infringed on the prerogatives of the executive, the government can respond through apathy or inaction, causing the opposition's proposed legislation to be ineffective or to fail completely; and put the blame on the legislature, blurring the distinction between power and responsibility.
Based on this analysis, it is unavoidable that the minority government has to face administrative paralysis and a lack of parity between authority and responsibility. A few days ago, Premier Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) said that the legislature could force the president to dissolve the government and call for elections and the formation of a new Cabinet.
But the problem is that in a Cabinet system, the government takes a big risk calling elections prematurely, for if it cannot command a legislative majority, then it is forced to hand over executive power. The situation in Taiwan is different, in that if the government fails to command a majority in a new election, Chen could still insist on the DPP forming a government. This would then make the whole exercise totally meaningless.
According to the results of a recent public opinion poll, more than half of respondents believed that forming the Cabinet based on the political party that has a legislative majority would better maintain the nation's political stability. Also, over 50 percent of respondents supported the idea that the appointment of the premier should first be approved by the legislature.
Broadly speaking, the public seems to want a government formed by a legislative majority. In the past, people generally believed that the premier should be a presidential appointment, but recent polls indicate that public feeling regarding this issue is changing. Now, most people support the legislative majority (or currently the pan-blue alliance) forming the Cabinet, since they think that only in this way could the government-proposed bills be passed in the government-controlled legislature, and then be carried out by the ruling party. This is the way to open an opportunity to carry out responsible politics and actualize the parity of authority and responsibility.
Although Chen has called for a two-stage constitutional reform, given the current situation the probability of it being carried out is virtually nil. In order to break the gridlock between the executive and legislature, forming a majority government may be the only solution. But this gives rise to another problem: it is impossible for Chen to allow the pan-blue camp to form the Cabinet during his administration, so it seems fated that the confrontation between government and opposition will drag on until after the 2008 presidential election.
In the meantime, Taiwan may sink further into political chaos. If this happens, by the time the elections come around, there might be no saving Taiwan. Common people like us desperately hope that politicians can express more concern over Taiwan's future and its citizens' livelihoods, rather than dragging all of Taiwan into a quagmire of political division.
Chou Yu-jen is a professor in the department of public administration and policy at National Taipei University.
?TRANSLATED BY LIN YA-TI
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