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Pinglin vote sparks political spat

A recent advisory referendum held by a small Taipei County township has sparked conflicting responses from governmental agencies and political parties.

"The Pinglin [Township] advisory referendum is only the beginning. If we don't establish laws that define national and regional referendums, chaos will reign," Taipei City Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said.

He also asked that the central government refrain from encouraging regional referendums.

Pinglin residents conducted an advisory referendum on Saturday, reporting that 98 percent of the voters want the Taipei-Ilan Freeway to include a Pinglin exit, when completed.

Ma said that all townships have to deal with a number of regional matters.

"If all of these issues are decided by referendum, will Taiwan become more stable or disorganized? How can the government recognize the results of all regional referendums? There must be some legal basis for differentiating between regional and national referendums," he said.

According to Ma, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications agreed with Pinglin residents, while the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said that linking Pinglin to the freeway would damage a nearby reservoir that supplies Taipei City with drinking water.

Ma also said that the Ministry of the Interior said that the Pinglin referendum had no more legal sway than an opinion poll.

"One administration, three different points of view," Ma said.

Premier Yu Shyi-kun echoed Ma, saying, "Regional governments can resolve regional matters with advisory referendums, but the construction of a national freeway is not a regional issue."

Executive Yuan Spokesman Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍), however, said that the construction of a Pinglin exit on the National Freeway is not a regional issue and thus cannot be decided by a regional referendum.

"The Executive Yuan respects the expert opinion of the EPA, but will conduct further discussions with both the EPA and the ministry," Lin said.

The Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) yesterday said it was prepared to propose a referendum law in the legislature.

"Our draft of the law is different from the draft proposed by Democratic Progressive Party's [DPP] Trong Chai (蔡同榮)," said TSU legislative caucus whip Liao Pen-yen (廖本煙).

"Misconduct is inevitably a possibility with referendums. The TSU version of the referendum law clearly lays out referendum rights and procedures. It also stipulates penalties for administrators who act to obstruct referendums," Liao said.

Liao warned the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the People First Party not to block the establishment of the referendum law draft, saying that all proposals should be discussed.

KMT Legislator Apollo Chen (陳學聖) said that as long as the DPP's referendum proposals were geared toward legislating public policy, the KMT would support the proposal.

"However, if the DPP proposals are geared toward issues of national independence, the KMT will also propose its own referendum law," Chen said.

According to Chen, the KMT would propose that whoever calls the referendum must take responsibility for the results by stepping down from political office if the referendum fails to pass.

DPP legislative caucus whip Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) yesterday said the effect of Pinglin advisory referendum was only within the local township level and cannot override the national environmental evaluation regulations -- which could only be altered by a national referendum.

"The advisory referendum held at local government's township level can't change the legal stipulations and could only serve as a reference for the township's executive policing," Chen said.

Any change to the legal system will require a national referendum, backed by a referendum legislation, which has been put as a priority on the DPP's legislative agenda.

Meanwhile, Chen said the Pinglin referendum doesn't contradict with the advisory referendums which the Cabinet are going to hold next year.

Chen noted that the Cabinet's advisory referendum would be an administrative one which only serves as a reference to the government's policy.

"The Cabinet's advisory referendum would not be legally binding, therefore none of the citizen's legal rights and obligations will be changed after the vote," Chen said.
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