DPP heavyweights yesterday threw their weight behind a high-ranking official who claimed that Chen's administration would push for an amendment to the Constitution to adopt the presidential system.
Taiwan currently has a semi-presidential system and the government is separated into five branches: the Legislative Yuan, the Executive Yuan, the Judicial Yuan, the Examination Yuan and the Control Yuan.
"It's the right direction to take and has always been the ultimate goal of the DPP to consolidate the government into three branches and adopt the presidential system," DPP legislative whip Lin Cho-shui (林濁水) told the Taipei Times.
Lin added that the Constitution should not only be amended, it should also be rewritten.
"However, because the move is highly infeasible at the present time, we can only try to make a few changes at a time," he said.
Lin made the remark to support the controversial comment made by Chiou I-jen (邱義仁), secretary-general of the Executive Yuan, in the US on Thursday.
Chiou reportedly told reporters during his seven-day visit to the US that, within the following four to six years, the Chen administration would push for an amendment to the Constitution to reach the ultimate goal of consolidating the government into three branches and adopting the presidential system.
His controversial comments prompted the People First Party to accuse Chiou of "disrespecting the Constitution" and "confusing his roles as governmental official and DPP member."
In addition, the KMT criticized Chiou for "undermining the constitutional system and disturbing the already chaotic political situation."
Another DPP legislative whip Tsai Huang-liang (
"The Constitution was written some 50 years ago when the KMT governed China. It's time to review it and make the necessary changes," he said.
In a bid to be in line with Western democracy, Lin said, the government should make the effort to amend the Constitution.
"When three people can finish the job effectively, why bother having five?" Lin said. "The five branches of government are one of the main reasons for the government's inefficiency."
Lin said that if the National Assembly could be dissolved, the branches of government could be reduced from five to three.
The National Assembly is now a non-standing body after six constitutional amendments between 1991 and 2000. Constitutional amendments promulgated in April 2000 ultimately terminated the body and established a unicameral legislative system.
Most of the functions of the National Assembly have been transferred to the Legislative Yuan.
In addition to declaring that the executive powers shall be vested in the premier, the Constitution, first promulgated in 1947, separates government power into five primary branches.
As the Examination Yuan is concerned with the recruitment of civil servants, the Control Yuan is responsible for scrutiny and discipline of civil servants.
Lin argued that the Examination Yuan and Control Yuan should be dissolved because functions of the two branches overlap with those of the other three.
"Take for example, when the Control Yuan plans to discipline a civil servant, it has to let the Legislative Yuan take care of the political issues, the Judicial Yuan the legal, and the Executive Yuan the administrative part," he said.
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