Ma in no hurry to alter Constitution

Insisting that his stance in respecting, following and upholding the Constitution is unchanged, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said yesterday that he would not amend the Constitution if he is elected president next year -- at least for the first two years of his presidency.

Any amendments to the Constitution would take place after 2010 at the earliest, Ma said in Nantou County as he announced his "second democratic reform" policies.

Ma said he would push for a "second wave" of democratic reform if he is elected president.

The eight reform ideas outlined by Ma include affirmation of the Constitution and its spirit, implementation of independent judicial and administrative systems and strengthening of mechanisms to crack down on corruption.

He also vowed to push for legislative reforms, constructive competition among political parties and the protection of human rights for the underprivileged.

Ma said proponents of democracy focused too much on elections and not enough on the importance of a constitutional government. He said both the governing and the opposition parties should closely consider the matter.

Ma had said previously that he would create an evaluation committee in 2010 to examine constitutional reform and nominate a premier acceptable to the legislature, while limiting the president's authority to foreign policy, cross-strait affairs and national security.

Commenting on Ma's proposal to restore the legislature's right to confirm the premier, President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) yesterday denounced the KMT for revoking the legislature's right of confirmation in the first place.

Chen said the party should apologize to the public.

When the KMT was in power it used its legislative majority to amend the Constitution and revoke the legislature's right of confirmation, he said.

"They passed the motion, dubbed the `Lien Chan (連戰) article,' to serve the party's interest," Chen said. "Today, somebody says he wants to reinstate the legislature's right to confirm the premier. I'd like him to tell us whether his party should apologize to the public for eliminating it in the first place. If it is correct to restore this right, why was it eliminated in the first place?"

Chen dismissed Ma's proposal as "frivolous."

In related news, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) said yesterday that the DPP would form a coalition government with smaller parties if he were elected next year.

That way, he said, the KMT could keep the government under observation but not boycott the Executive Yuan's budgets and bills.

Hsieh made the remarks in an interview with Public Television Service which was aired yesterday.

He said the problem now is that the government's budgets are being boycotted in the legislature where the opposition holds a majority.

He predicted that neither the DPP nor the KMT would hold a majority after the legislative elections in January.

He said he would not form a coalition government with the KMT if elected, but work to win the support of smaller parties in the legislature.

If the DPP were able to form a majority with support from smaller parties, it would shoulder all political responsibility and not shift the blame to the opposition, he said.

Additional reporting by Ko Shu-ling

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