The list of nominees for the Control Yuan has been tied up in the legislature for so long that this fifth branch of the government has become little more than a ghostly visage hovering over Taipei. It has been in limbo for so long that some people have begun to wonder whether the nation should just get rid of it and be done with all the squabbling.
The Control Yuan is a branch of government mandated under the Constitution, however, and the legislature's action in holding up the nomination list is unconstitutional. While the Control Yuan might appear superfluous, its existence and operation is fundamental to the operation of our government. It can only be eliminated through a constitutional amendment.
Breaking the gridlock over the nominations would be a step forward in the development of Taiwan's constitutional government.
Nominating members of the Control Yuan is a prerogative of the president, and the pan-blue camp's opposition is legislative obstructionism. The president's invitation to political parties to recommend new nominations was a gesture of goodwill aimed at resolving this unnecessary impasse. But this well-intended gesture could backfire.
There has been speculation that the Presidential Office was considering making nominations based on the proportion of legislative seats held by each party. This would set a dangerous precedent. It would lead to the politicization of the nominations and undermine the non-partisan nature of the Control Yuan. It could also place the Control Yuan at risk of ending up like the 319 Shooting Truth Investigation Commission and the National Communications Commission. The membership of both commissions was based on the parties' proportion of legislative seats and both were declared unconstitutional by the Council of Grand Justices.
Moreover, if the Presidential Office were to reject the parties' nominations, there could be repercussions from disgruntled lawmakers. The Presidential Office would have to walk a very fine line in balancing the suggestions and its actual list of nominees.
As it is, the president's invitation has met with a mixed response. The Chinese Nationalist Party's (KMT) legislative caucus demanded the time allotted for submitting nominees be lengthened from one week to one month so it could reach a consensus. The People First Party -- which is on the verge of dissolving -- was quick to seize the opportunity to extend its influence and draw up its list. The Democratic Progressive Party said it would respect the president's right to choose his own nominees and would not submit a list. The Taiwan Solidarity Union did issue a list against the will of its legislative caucus, which wanted to avoid any suggestion that it was scrambling after political spoils.
Control Yuan members should be independent-minded people of the highest moral character if they are to carry out their task of being a non-partisan watchdog of the government. Unfortunately, in Taiwan's highly partisan environment, people able to transcend the political tussles of day-to-day politics are as rare as hen's teeth.
But society cannot allow membership in the Control Yuan to be used as a political bargaining chip by parties, nor should the memberships become political spoils to ease the disappointments that will arise from the implementation of the single-member electoral districts later this year.
If a list of nominees that the public can approve of cannot be drawn up, then it is probably better for the Control Yuan to remain in abeyance.
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