Enactment of a referendum law that allows the public to decide on public policies directly will inspire the interest of the people, but any political manipulation of this delicate matter could backfire, Legislator Lee Chia-chin (李嘉進), deputy secretary-general of the KMT legislative caucus, said yesterday.
Lee referred to the possibility that, in addition to national sovereignty, public issues such as casinos on outlying islands, storage of nuclear waste and construction of garbage incinerators will be decided by referendum.
"The executive branch might find the policy-making process and implementation even more difficult when the referendum law is in force," he said.
Lee added that the KMT "reluctantly" took a drastic shift in their stance on the referendum issue last week, proposing quick legalization of a referendum law.
Afraid of the adverse effects of objecting to the referendum law in terms of election votes, the KMT has been "forced" to follow the rhythm of the ruling DPP on the issue, he said.
The KMT has always rejected the holding of referendums on the grounds that it could set a precedent that could lead to a plebiscite on the sensitive sovereignty issue.
The issue of a draft referendum law was first brought up in 1993 by pro-Taiwan independence DPP Legislator Throng Tsai (蔡同榮), who submitted a draft bill on a referendum law before the Cabinet approved and submitted the draft law of initiative and referendum to the Legislative Yuan in April 2002.
According to Minister of the Interior Yu Cheng-hsien (
When the DPP took power in 2000, President Chen Shui-bian (
Chen announced last Friday that the government will hold a referendum on or before the presidential election of March 20 next year on three issues -- should Taiwan apply for membership in the World Health Organization, should construction of the fourth nuclear power plant be stopped and should the number of seats in the legislature be halved.
That same day, the KMT and the PFP caucuses announced that they support the holding of an extra legislative session in July to approve a draft bill on the referendum law and expected that a referendum will be held in August.
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