In a surprise development, President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) yesterday announced at a rally in Tainan his intention to push through a new round of referendums at the end of the year.
After expressing gratitude to Tainan residents for their support in the presidential election, Chen proposed that a referendum be held on two topics -- whether or not to halve the number of seats in the Legislative Yuan and whether to establish a committee to review Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) party assets.
Proposed laws on both issues are currently stalled in bill form in the Legislative Yuan due to disagreement among legislators.
PHOTO:CHU PEI-YA, TAIPEI TIMES
The proposed law to reduce the size of the legislature envisions cutting the number of seats in the legislature from 225 to 113 and would go into effect in 2007, but the bill failed to pass in the run-up to the presidential election last month.
The bill to review the legality of KMT party assets has met with resistance from legislators who belong to the KMT and the People First Party (PFP).
Chen did not offer additional specifics about the newly proposed referendum topics.
Saying that if the pan-blue camp wanted a referendum, he would give them one, Chen drew attention to what he characterized as discrepancies in the pan-blue camp's reasoning.
"The pro-blue camp originally accused us of ulterior motives when we proposed holding a referendum along with the presidential election," Chen said.
"However, they now obviously think that it's fair to hold a referendum during an election, since they want to tie the year-end legislative elections to a referendum on the establishment of a `truth committee' and a committee to review the national security defense mechanism," he said, referring to the pan-blue camp's proposal to hold a referendum on whether to establish a committee that would investigate the assassination attempt on Chen and whether to review documents related to the implementation of the national security mechanism.
The pan-blue camp has called both the assassination attempt and the triggering of the national security mechanism into question, accusing Chen of ploys to reduce the number of votes cast for the KMT-PFP alliance in the presidential election.
Chen lambasted the pan-blue camp's demands.
"What is the truth? The truth is that they are being sore losers. The truth is that they are being irresponsible by not stepping down after their loss. They are making society pay for their irrationality," Chen said.
Chen characterized the pan-blue politicians as looking down on the Taiwanese people.
"How can they say that pan-green supporters are low class? Is it shameful to be `barefooted?' How does wearing leather shoes make someone `better?'" Chen said, referring to PFP Legislator Liu Wen-shiung's (劉文雄) comparison of "leather-shoed" Taipei City Mayor Ma Ying-Jeou (馬英九) to "barefooted," newly sworn-in Minister of the Interior Su Jia-chyuan (蘇嘉全).
The rally was held to thank the Democratic Progressive Party's Tainan supporters for their help and enthusiasm during the presidential election last month.
Much attention was given to the president's security at the rally, with increased police personnel on alert.
The president wore a bulletproof vest and spoke at a podium that was protected by bullet-proof glass.
The combined effect of the monsoon, the outer rim of Typhoon Fengshen and a low-pressure system is expected to bring significant rainfall this week to various parts of the nation, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The heaviest rain is expected to occur today and tomorrow, with torrential rain expected in Keelung’s north coast, Yilan and the mountainous regions of Taipei and New Taipei City, the CWA said. Rivers could rise rapidly, and residents should stay away from riverbanks and avoid going to the mountains or engaging in water activities, it said. Scattered showers are expected today in central and
COOPERATION: Taiwan is aligning closely with US strategic objectives on various matters, including China’s rare earths restrictions, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Taiwan could deal with China’s tightened export controls on rare earth metals by turning to “urban mining,” a researcher said yesterday. Rare earth metals, which are used in semiconductors and other electronic components, could be recovered from industrial or electronic waste to reduce reliance on imports, National Cheng Kung University Department of Resources Engineering professor Lee Cheng-han (李政翰) said. Despite their name, rare earth elements are not actually rare — their abundance in the Earth’s crust is relatively high, but they are dispersed, making extraction and refining energy-intensive and environmentally damaging, he said, adding that many countries have opted to
CONCESSION: A Shin Kong official said that the firm was ‘willing to contribute’ to the nation, as the move would enable Nvidia Crop to build its headquarters in Taiwan Shin Kong Life Insurance Co (新光人壽) yesterday said it would relinquish land-use rights, or known as surface rights, for two plots in Taipei’s Beitou District (北投), paving the way for Nvidia Corp to expand its office footprint in Taiwan. The insurer said it made the decision “in the interest of the nation’s greater good” and would not seek compensation from taxpayers for potential future losses, calling the move a gesture to resolve a months-long impasse among the insurer, the Taipei City Government and the US chip giant. “The decision was made on the condition that the Taipei City Government reimburses the related
African swine fever was confirmed at a pig farm in Taichung, the Ministry of Agriculture said today, prompting a five-day nationwide ban on transporting and slaughtering pigs, and marking the loss of Taiwan’s status as the only Asian nation free of all three major swine diseases. The ministry held a news conference today confirming that the virus was detected at a farm in Wuci District (梧棲) yesterday evening. Authorities preemptively culled 195 pigs at the farm at about 3am and disinfected the entire site to prevent the disease from spreading, the ministry said. Authorities also set up a 3km-radius control zone
RSS