The punishment of independent lawmaker Lo Fu-chu (羅福助) for assaulting his female colleague Diane Lee (李慶安) of the People First Party promises to intensify partisan conflict that will in turn hamper legislative efficiency in the near future, lawmakers said yesterday.
They also labeled the disciplinary action as an isolated incident that has neither any corrective nor preventative effect on the legislature, long criticized as a "sanctuary of interest trade-offs."
"It is impossible to straighten out the legislature as long as it is filled with members with suspicious backgrounds," New Party lawmaker Lai Shyh-bao (賴世葆) told the Taipei Times.
On Thursday, the lawmaking body voted 155-3 to approve the Discipline Committee's ruling to suspend Lo from his duties for six months as a punishment for his violent conduct on March 28.
Lai, who attended the closed-door cross-party talks before the vote, said that Lo's allies from the Alliance of Independent Lawmakers threatened to retaliate if the suspension lasts longer than three months.
Lo had offered to take a three-month break the day after attacking Lee.
"I can sense a strong feeling of resentment among Lo's backers against their PFP colleagues," Lai said.
Lai predicted that the PFP would have problems introducing bills in the near future.
PFP legislator Chou Hsi-wei (周錫偉) echoed the concern, noting that a bill cannot reach the floor if a single member voices protest against the motion.
"The standards of the legislative process will not improve much if voters continue to elect thug-like figures to the legislature," he warned.
Former justice minister Liao Cheng-hao (廖正豪) once said that as many as 30 percent of the lawmakers are linked to criminal groups or activities.
Still, the unprecedented disciplinary action rekindled hopes among reform-minded legislators who saw the incident as an opportunity for the lawmaking body to cast off its negative image.
DPP lawmaker Lee Wen-chung (李文忠), for one, brought up anew an old campaign to deny colleagues accession to committees where they may be suspected of having conflicting interests.
Two years ago, he produced a long list of members who had such conflicts of interest and acted in violation of conduct codes, out the situation remains mostly unchanged today.
According to the document, a dozen lawmakers, including Kao Ting-tsai (郭廷才), Chang Wen-i (張文儀) and Tsai Hau (蔡豪), who are all known to have heavy stakes in the finance sector, all won seats on the Finance Committee which is supposed to oversee financial officials. And lawmakers implicated in legal suits such as Lin Ruey-tou (林瑞圖) and Wu Tze-yuan (伍澤元) have been on the Judiciary Committee whose duty is to ensure that the Ministry of Justice is doing a good job.
Daniel Huang (黃義交), another PFP lawmaker, expressed pessimism that the problem will be addressed at all.
"In the absence of public outrage and media attention, the punishment of Lo would not have taken place," he noted, saying the incident was exceptional.
The Discipline Committee can take the initiative and probe any conflicts of interests.
"But most legislators are very reluctant to antagonize their colleagues," Huang noted.
Lai, the New Party's caucus leader, shared Huang's cynicism. He dismissed optimism that Lo's temporary suspension will effectively discourage violence.
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