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Editorial: Gunning for the legislature

Yesterday the Taipei Times ran a front page photograph featuring Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Chiang Lien-fu (江連福) from Taichung County aiming what appeared to be a toy handgun at a President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) doll.

This attempt at self-promotion by an obscure lawmaker was inappropriate enough in symbolic terms given the violent events of the last presidential election. What astounds is that Chiang could take the gun into the legislature without any resistance, and apparently be allowed to keep the "weapon" after brandishing it on the legislative floor.

Needless to say, such idiotic behavior is par for the course in a legislature with more than its share of buffoons, incompetents and opportunists -- of all political persuasions. There is little doubt that there are those within the Democratic Progressive Party and the Taiwan Solidarity Union who would be delighted to up Chiang's ante and aim a toy ballistic missile at an effigy of KMT Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九).

Matching the legislature's cult of boorishness is its members' fashion sense. There might have been a time when dressing in black vests with party insignia emblazoned across the front and the party's English initials across the back seemed like a good idea. Today it reeks of thuggishness and demeans the chamber.

As with much of the posturing that goes on inside the legislature and out, there is an overriding air of pantomime. The comforting fact is that a considerable amount of time has elapsed since legislators descended into genuinely bloody confrontation, notwithstanding the hysterics and legislation-chomping that recently graced television screens.

New electoral boundaries may reduce unruly behavior by pushing more mainstream candidates to the forefront, but for now it is about time that rules relating to legislator conduct in the chamber were tightened significantly. What rules exist are clearly insufficient and/or unenforceable.

So here is a chance for Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) to boost his bipartisan capital as president of the legislature and call on all lawmakers to tone down the histrionics and cultivate a saner debating environment. Because Ma is proving himself incapable of reining in the obnoxious elements of his party, Wang has the opportunity to mold the legislature in a way that would increase its -- and his -- credibility among voters.

Wang pushing the legislature to behave in a semi-civilized fashion would be an achievement that could nullify Ma's insinuation during the last KMT chairmanship poll that Wang is tainted by "black gold."

It is easy enough for foreign news networks and local tabloids to play up the shenanigans of not only individual legislators but also whole sections of the main parties. This exposure has become a source of merriment for some but it leads some overseas pundits -- and many Taiwanese -- into abuse of the words "chaos" or "chaotic" in describing what is otherwise a perfectly civil and restrained society.

There comes a time when this polity must take responsibility for the legislators it elects. That time seemingly has not arrived yet; too many half-wits remain in office courtesy of a ditched electoral system that favored gangsters and rabble rousers over more visionary and capable representatives.

With the new electoral system -- assuming it is introduced without excessive drama or gerrymandering -- there is hope that legislative debate will become the rule rather than the exception.

It's time to take the "buster" out of filibuster.
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