No support seen for DPP's move on Assembly law

The DPP's decision to request a review of the law was jointly made by the party headquarters and the caucus, Ker said.

According to Ker, DPP Chairman Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) telephoned him Friday after the law passed the legislature to discuss the possibility of filing a request to review some articles of the law. A caucus meeting was also held at noon that day to discuss the matter.

Despite the DPP's appeal to other parties, the KMT and PFP caucuses yesterday did not hesitate to pour cold water on the rival party's proposal.

"We are not a subordinate of the DPP," said KMT caucus whip Chen Chieh (陳杰). "We feel sorry about their change of heart, which is made simply because of the opposition of one person."

PFP caucus whip Chen Chih-pin (陳志彬) said that it is meaningless and ineffective to talk with a party which reneges on its promises.

For his part, DPP Legislator Chen Chin-de (陳金德) questioned the legislature's cross-party negotiation mechanism and the way Wang handled the matter, saying that an accord on the bill's passage should not have been made without the presence of the lead DPP caucus whip.

"[Wang] knew that DPP caucus whip Jao Yun-ching (趙永清) did not show up at the cross-party negotiations, nor did he assign any proxy to sign the agreement, but he turned a blind eye to it," he said.

Chen criticized the multiparty negotiation system for leading to oligarchy in the legislature as well as secret meetings, spoils systems and blackmail politics.

"It also results in legislative mayhem ... as well as the formidable power of caucus whips and Wang's dominating role," he said.

In other legislative news, contentious articles in the draft amendments of the Outlying Islands Development Law (離島建設條例) will be put to a vote if no consensus is made during a four-month cross-party negotiation period.