Blue camp stands by shooting `report'

In its final sitting for the current term, the Legislative Yuan's pan-blue-camp-dominated Procedure Committee accepted a report from an investigative body declared by the Council of Grand Justices to have unconstitutional powers.

The Procedure Committee also refused to refer both a statute and budget for the NT$610.8 billion (US$19.2 billion) arms package and a Presidential Office request to review Control Yuan nominations to legislative committees for review.

The statute and budget plan therefore cannot be debated by the current legislature, which dissolves on Friday. The statute and budget plan must now be resubmitted by the next Cabinet to the new legislature.

The failure to review Control Yuan nominations will also result in a dormant Control Yuan from Feb. 1 as current members complete their terms on Jan. 31.

Control Yuan duties such as censuring government agencies and officials will therefore be interrupted until the Presidential Office resubmits nominations to the new legislature for approval.

The report issued by the March 19 Shooting Truth Investigation Special Committee on Monday passed the Procedure Committee yesterday despite the former being declared unconstitutional.

The report, which says the shooting of President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) "did not occur as reported," and that the election might have been manipulated as a resulted, passed the committee along party lines, but not before lawmakers from the pan-blue and pan-green camps argued over the legitimacy of the investigation committee and its report.

Pan-green lawmakers said the investigation committee had been declared unconstitutional by the Council of Grand Justices, but pan-blue legislators said the justices did not say this, requiring only that the legislature amend the law which formed the committee.

People First Party (PFP) caucus whip Liu Wen-hsiung (劉文雄) backed the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) in passing the report for consideration by the legislature, saying "the PFP respects the KMT's decision on the investigation committee's report."

The PFP then voted with the KMT throughout the session.

The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus expressed pessimism over cross-party cooperation after the day's events.

DPP caucus whip Tsai Huang-liang (蔡煌瑯) said that pan-blue lawmakers were still wallowing in their presidential election defeat, and this was why Cabinet, DPP and Taiwan Solidarity Union bills had been rejected by the Procedure Committee.

"No matter how many friendly gestures the DPP offers other parties, I just don't see any partnerships forming. The DPP is having its sincerity thrown back in its face," he said.

When asked in turn if DPP-PFP cooperation was still viable, another DPP caucus whip, Lee Chun-yee (李俊毅), also expressed pessimism.

KMT caucus whip Tseng Yuan-chuang (曾永權) said during the committee session that his party did not object to the arms deal, but opposed any arms deal that was too expensive.

"The nominations for the Control Yuan also did not meet public expectations, so it is difficult for the current legislature to review the nominations. Both the arms deal and the nominations should be left to the next legislature for consideration," Tseng said.

Also see stories:

CIB laughs off report by committee

DPP heavyweights slam March 19 committee report

Editorial: Illegitimacy spawns ludicrous report