Referendum law passage receives academic support

Scholars yesterday offered some academic firepower to the idea that it's time for the government to legislate a referendum law. The law would be aimed at breaking the political gridlock over highly controversial public issues by calling on the public to decide.

"[Referendums] are used in most democratic nations to resolve highly contentious matters which cannot be solved by virtue of representative democracy. It is considered a rule of the game in democratic politics, and I don't see why we can't make it a law in Taiwan," said Chen Tung-sheng (陳東升), chairman of the sociology department at National Taiwan University.

Endorsing Chen's views, Ku Chung-hwa (顧忠華), professor of sociology at National Chengchi University, said that the referendum was one of the most efficient methods of ending controversies concerning public policy in western countries, and it is deemed a complementary political tool to balance and check the possible flaws of representative politics.

In the opinion of Hwang Jau-yuan (黃昭元), an associate professor from National Taiwan University Law School, referendums are the best way to break political stalemates stemming from disparate views held by the executive and legislative branches.

Academics made the comments in response to the recent claim by opposition parties that the ruling DPP was pushing for talks on a plebiscite just to stoke political tension in the aftermath of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant (核四) dispute.

Just as tensions between the ruling and opposition parties have started to calm down after the Cabinet reversed its decision to recommence construction of the plant on Feb. 14, the DPP's suggestion to pass a referendum law has triggered a new conflict. The opposition fears that a plan to hold a referendum during the year-end legislative race, as the Executive Yuan has suggested, is a new DPP tactic to drag out the power plant dispute.

It appears that the opposition alliance, which is an overwhelming majority in the legislature, is attempting to squelch the issue. On the first day of the new legislative session yesterday, negotiations initiated by the DPP legislative caucus in an attempt to exchange views in regard to a referendum law came to naught as opposition lawmakers collectively boycotted the meeting.

Although most scholars interviewed by the Taipei Times raised concerns over whether the power plant dispute should be settled through a plebiscite, they unanimously agreed that a referendum law should be passed by the legislature soon in order to give contentious public policy subjects a more effective path for solution.

"Referendums are definitely the right direction [for Taiwan] to move toward, especially to end controversies associated with environmental or morally contentious issues, such as the protection of gay and human rights, because these issues are debatable by nature and often cannot be properly solved by means of regular political measures ? [Referendums] are a remedial means to make up for the inefficiencies of representative political systems," said Lin Duan (林端), an associate professor of sociology at National Taiwan University.