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Pundits weigh merits of DPP's internal reforms

Party reforms: * The DPP's National Congress is expected to pass a measure that will make the president the party's chairman when the party is in power. * Proposed changes include expanding the party's Central Standing Committee so that it includes government and caucus leaders. * The reform plan would give the president the right to name a number of delegates to the standing committee.

Sixteen years after its birth, the DPP has decided to embark on yet another bold reform. An extraordinary meeting of its National Congress today is expected to ratify revisions to the party's charter that will make the country's president the party's chairman when the party is in power.

The planned change, prompted by the transfer of power two years ago, is designed to draw the party closer to the government.

"The DPP charter, which was drawn up when the party was in opposition, does not address how it should act when in power," senior DPP lawmaker Hong Chi-chang (洪奇昌) said. "Consequently, the last two years have witnessed recurrent conflicts between the government and the party."

Indeed, pundits have compared the DPP administration to a disorganized orchestra whose members tend to play their own favorite notes at the cost of harmony.

However, it remains to be seen if such a course of reform, reminiscent of the former ruling KMT, will inject badly needed vigor into the DPP -- which has grown increasingly pragmatic, but also more stagnant in recent years.

Last Saturday, Premier Yu Shyi-kun invited DPP legislative leaders to lunch. Earlier, the caucus had complained about not being consulted over the Cabinet's plan to privatize national highways, among other policy issues.

"It is true that many fellow lawmakers don't know how to help the administration when they are kept in the dark about the Cabinet's intentions," DPP legislative whip Wang Tuoh (王拓) said.

To calm the outcry, the premier on Wednesday instructed all vice ministers to hold regular meetings with DPP legislators to strengthen bilateral communication.

The episode is just one of many incidents that indicate the DPP has yet to adjust to its role as the ruling party.

In March, several DPP lawmakers joined their opposition colleagues in questioning the professional competence of former economics minister Christine Tsung (宗才怡). Likened to a rabbit who is unfit for the political jungle, Tsung quit her post shortly after.

In Oct. 2000, former premier Tang Fei (唐飛) resigned after disagreeing with the Presidential Office over the fate of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant.

"Due to repeated shuffling of Cabinet officials, communication between the caucus and the Cabinet has been intermittent and ineffective," acknowledged DPP caucus convener Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘).

"The problem can no longer be ignored now that the DPP has become the largest party in the legislature."

To address that concern, the proposed reform also suggests expanding the party's Central Standing Committee so that it includes government and caucus leaders -- making it serve as an institutional venue of communication.

The planned reform, the party points out, would be in line with the principles of internalization and democracy -- within the framework of a presidential system of government.

But senior members as well scholars question the merits of this arrangement, noting that large meetings tend to be ritualistic in nature.

Senior DPP lawmaker Lin Cho-shui (林濁水), for one, has painted the ongoing reform as both vague and inconsistent.

"The larger the size of a forum, the more difficult it will be for participants to hammer out a consensus," Lin said. "It will take preparatory meetings to bridge potential differences among the panelists."

He notes that no president in a Western democracy functions simultaneously as party chairman and all internally structured parties revolve around their legislative caucuses.

"It is not necessary for the DPP to adopt either model," Lin said. "But I fail to see the connection between the proposed reform and the spirit of internalization."

Fellow lawmaker Shen Fu-hsiung (沈富雄) agrees in part.

He finds a larger Central Standing Committee problematic, as it seeks to increase participation and suppress opposition at the same time.

The reform plan suggests giving the president the right to name a number of delegates to the committee so he can ensure that he has a decisive say in its meetings.

The expanded committee is aimed at replacing the nine-member policy-making task force that has proved ineffectual.

Shen said in an earlier interview that the design would promise no cure to incongruity between the party and the government.

"Participants would soon lose interest in attending the meetings if their views are not taken seriously," he predicted.

To avoid coming across as a partisan politician, Chen has said he will not discuss important policy or personnel issues during the meetings of the Central Standing Committee.

Wang Yeh-li (王業立), a political scientist at Tunghai University, said the key to a smooth administration lay in cross-party talks as long as the DPP lacked majority control of the legislature.

"Internalized or not, the DPP does not have enough votes to pass its policy bills," Wang said. "Chen can tackle all existing problems without taking his party's helm."

Emile Sheng (盛治仁), who teaches political science at Soochow University, said he agrees with Wang.

He said the president can be more effective in winning the support of fellow DPP members by sharing his political resources with them.
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