A political monitoring group yesterday condemned the postponement of a legislative reform plan and urged the three main political parties to cooperate for the plan's implementation in this legislative session.
The Taipei Society, a group founded by liberal academics, which has vowed to improve the legislature's quality by closely monitoring it, said in a press conference yesterday that legislators' refusals to reform is the main obstacle to reform.
The society said that since the reform plan has been postponed for three years, part of the reform should be launched before next year's presidential election.
The society suggested that the government form a special committee to oversee constitutional amendments, address the number of legislative seats and change the electoral method in the Legislative Yuan.
The group's announcement came after the DPP's vow to place legislative reform as a top priority last week.
The DPP said it would solicit cross-party endorsements and public support through a signature drive after it presents the reform proposal.
The opposition parties have reacted to the vow unfavorably.
The DPP's proposal suggests the reform should include reducing the number of legislative seats -- although it doesn't specify a number -- extending lawmakers' terms from three years to four years and changing the electoral method to a single-member district, two-vote system.
Ku Chung-hwa (
"The DPP should push the reform proposal by focusing on seeking the other parties' endorsements, but not trying to pressure the pan-blue camp by manipulating public opinion," Ku said.
Wang Yeh-lih (王業立), a professor of political science at Tunghai University and member of the society, said the pan-blue camp's opposition to reform would be punished by voters in next year's presidential election.
"We hope that all of the political parties improve their reputations by pushing this already postponed legislative reform without attacking each other on issues of nonsense," Wang said.
In yesterday's conference, the society also urged legislators holding positions at any commercial organization to quit their jobs or give up their conflicts of interest.
According to a survey conducted by the Taipei Society, more than 60 legislators are holding more than 130 positions at commercial organizations, which is higher than the previous legislature's 51 legislators holding 98 positions.
Among the 60-some lawmakers, KMT Legislator Kao Yu-jen (高育仁) topped the list by holding 13 positions as chairman or board director in various companies -- which include high-tech, biochemical, oil, construction, venture capital and machinery companies.
"All of the political parties should prohibit their members from taking any concurrent posts at commercial organizations.
"We hope that those legislators holding any concurrent posts right now will quit their posts right away," said Chiu Hei-yuan (
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