The DPP said yesterday it will form a single channel of communication between governmental departments in a bid to plug gaps in the Constitution that gives the president full responsibility for the government's performance, despite his removal from policy-shaping.
DPP Legislator Lin Cho-shui (林濁水), director of the party's policy-making committee, said that the restructuring is aimed at coordinating the opinions of the presidential office, the Executive Yuan, the party and the party's legislative caucus.
"Under the Constitution, the difficulty in coordinating the opinions of these four departments can happen to any ruling party. [The DPP] hopes to make it a standing mechanism after it is established so that it can be used by any ruling party in the future," Lin said.
The director's comments highlighted one of the DPP's major obstacles -- although President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) is not a decision-maker in governmental polices, he has to shoulder every responsibility for the performance of the administration.
DPP Secretary-General Chang Chun-hsuing (張俊雄) also raised the issue on Sunday at the administrative reform seminar.
He said the DPP is caught in a dilemma due to the ambiguity of the Constitution. The system has hampered the communication and coordination among governmental departments, he said.
Taiwan does not follow the presidential system, where the president can directly push for the implementation of polices, neither does it follow the Cabinet system, in which the executive branch is formed from the congress, Chang said.
The KMT solved the problem by leading political affairs with its authoritarian party, but he said the DPP can't go down that road because of its respect for democracy. The subject triggered much discussion at the weekend meeting, and it will be discussed at the party's Central Standing Committee today.
Party officials yesterday acknowledged that the party is thinking of forming a coordination system. But they denied media reports that a decision-making mechanism in which Chen, Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮), Premier Yu Shyi-kun and Chang and DPP's legislative caucus whip will all be members.
Officials said nothing is certain for now because the scheme has to be evaluated by the policy-making committee after the Central Standing Committee presents its opinions today.
In the meantime, the party is working to beef up communication between the cabinet, the party and the party's legislative caucus to halt complaints that DPP lawmakers and party officials often had little knowledge of the government's polices.
Many lawmakers at the seminar complained that they often had no idea what the polices were about, making it difficult for lawmakers to advocate the polices or defend them on behalf of the government.
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