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Preventing one party from abuse of powers

In carrying out its legislative and executive rights, the government can be seen as a company that provides national defense, international relations, economic policy, education and other services to its citizens. It also divides the nation’s resources among all industries, professions and classes through various administrative and legislative measures. The most urgent task for the public now is to establish a strong system of checks and balances to ensure that the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government provides good and adequate services at a reasonable price to a majority of the public and establishes a fair and transparent system for resource allocation.

I have four suggestions regarding how to establish effective checks and balances.

First, voters need to adjust their attitude. The elections are over and I recommend that voters across the political spectrum turn their focus to demanding checks and balances for the future government and opposition. This means that every voter is a consumer who must be aware of the effects of any government measure on the public. The public needs to ask whether the effect of a measure is good or bad for their company and their daily lives. We should review every government service and increase supervision of the government together.

Second, information on governmental and legislative issues must become more transparent. Before consumers buy a product, they gather information from a variety of sources. Similarly, in order to avoid bad laws and inferior governance, we must force legislators to pass sunshine legislation. Before important legislation is passed, the government should organize public hearings. We must insist on a more professional and knowledgeable media that can expose government failings to the public. We must form professional groups and appoint experts to interpret and assess the possible consequences of government measures and bills.

Third, the opposition must be strong. As curbing the KMT’s power is important, it is disappointing that the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is in such disarray after its losses in the legislative and presidential elections. In addition to a strong DPP, the nation will need to intensify efforts to consolidate a third political force.

Academics from all fields, especially economy and finance, should no longer look at things from a pan-blue or pan-green perspective. Instead, they should use their expertise to examine the ruling party’s actions and policies. They can form a strong opposition that will make the KMT act with caution, afraid that it might again be replaced by an opposition party in the future if it misbehaves.

Fourth, the threshold for legislative representation should be lowered. If the above three suggestions fail to improve legislative and executive quality, the representatives chosen in the elections – the legislators – will hopefully still uphold justice. But as the legislature is dominated by the KMT, most people have little hope that these representatives will stand up for public interest.

The number of votes a political party has to receive to win a legislative seat should be lowered so the legislature will represent a more diverse representation of public opinion and fully reflect the needs of all social groups.

The future could be bright, but it could also prove difficult. Only the public has the collective wisdom and ability to make the effort necessary for the nation’s democracy to flourish. This can be done by demanding checks and balances to prevent abuse of power by the KMT and scrutinizing policies.

Jang Show-ling is a professor in the Department of Economy at National Taiwan University.

Translated by Anna Stiggelbout