Elated DPP caucus hopes to `reshape legislative culture'

The DPP legislative caucus expressed gratification with the result of yesterday's vote to overturn amendments to the Law Governing the Allocation of Government Revenues and Expenditures that would have given more money to local governments.

The caucus members emphasized that the result had nothing to do with who the winners and loses are and that they hoped that "negotiation would replace opposition in the Legislative Yuan in the future."

The KMT and PFP weren't able to gain enough votes yesterday to reject a Cabinet proposal to veto the amendments that were adopted on Jan 17.

The KMT and PFP were able to muster 109 votes, four votes short of the 113 required -- at least half of the 225 legislators -- to retain the amended bill.

"There should be room for discussion [between the ruling and opposition parties] concerning the reconsideration bill," said Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘), convener the of DPP's legislative caucus.

"It is not just opposition between the two sides," Key said. "We aim to reshape the legislative culture -- to have negotiation replace opposition, so that there will be no more tension like this in the future."

President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) echoed that feeling yesterday when he said that he respected the result of the vote, but hoped that in the future the executive and legislative branches would be able to communicate and negotiate in order to shape bills that would be beneficial to all parties, and the central and local governments.

A presidential aide said yesterday's proceedings implemented the spirit of the Constitution and set a good example of the way to resolve controversial polices between the ruling and opposition camps.

"Contentious issues relating to public policy can be solved through rational measures and such modes should be stuck to in the future," the official said, referring to negotiations between the ruling and opposition parties and the government's attempts to explain to the public the need to reconsider the controversial amendment.

The official added that the results indicated that in terms of different public issues, there is plenty of room for the DPP to win support from the opposition.

Praising the media's role in the controversy, the official said media reporting enabled the public to gain a greater understanding of the issues as well as the ability to monitor the voting behavior of legislators.

"By doing so, the lawmakers have learned to take the public opinion into serious consideration, rather than casting their votes purely in accordance with the party's will," he said.

Former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) said yesterday that regardless of the result of the Cabinet's motion, the budget allocation law should be based on "the principle of justice" and uphold the rights of every region.

"The nation's budget should be distributed according to the population ... in every district," he said.