The majority of the KMT legislative caucus yesterday officially raised a motion to reconsider the legislature's Jan. 4 amendments to the Cable Television Law (有線廣播電視法), amid growing public doubt over the appropriateness of the legislation.
The move, however, triggered strong opposition from caucus member Mu Ming-chu (穆閩珠) -- the initiator of the amendments, who believes the public has politicized what she called a "professional matter."
KMT caucus whip Cheng Yung-chin (鄭永金) explained that his caucus decided to raise the motion in light of the "urgent demand reflected by public opinion" and for the sake of national interests.
"The amendments have triggered a strong fight between central and local governments over the limits of their powers, causing political unrest. This isn't what the KMT and the nation want to see," Cheng said.
Cheng said the KMT will propose another set of amendments after a thorough discussion over the issue with authorities concerned.
The amendments, which drew little notice when rushed through in the final sitting of the just-concluded legislative session -- together with over a dozen of other bills -- have raised extensive public concern after Taipei City Government officials publicly challenged their propriety.
A main controversy surrounding the amendments has been the transfer from local governments to the central government of the powers to set standards for cable TV subscription fees and impose penalties on cable TV operators.
Some analysts have suspected that the change was made to facilitate a "collusion" between central-level officials and certain business conglomerates that control the cable TV market.
In yet another controversy, the amendments lifted a restriction on the shareholders of cable TV companies in what has been criticized as a step encouraging the building of a cable monopoly.
Mu yesterday argued that the criticisms are a distortion and misunderstanding of the purpose of the amendments.
"If there was to be a collusion of interests to put the power in the hands of the central government, I doubt if there wouldn't be a collusion of interests at the local level," Mu said.
Mu said she had proposed the amendments in view of the fact that over 50 percent of the localities around Taiwan lacked the professional ability to set up a panel to screen cable TV subscription fees and deal with related problems properly.
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