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Mayor Ma balks at referendum request

Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou, left, examines a poster at Taipei City Council yesterday. Ma rejected councilors' request to present a draft initiative and referendum bylaw to the council . PHOTO: WANG MIN-WEI, TAIPEI TIMES

Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) refused a request yesterday from two city councilors to present a draft initiative and referendum bylaw to Taipei City Council.

"I'm not against any of the councilors' presenting such a draft proposal but the city government will not take the initiative to do so," Ma said.

He added that it would be meaningless for a local government to enact a bylaw similar to legislation proposed by the central government and approved by the legislature.

Nor does it make sense for a local government to enact a bylaw different from the legislation approved by the Legislative Yuan because local governments are obliged to abide by such a law, he said.

Ma made the remarks yesterday afternoon during the question-and-answer session on the council floor in response to a question by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) councilors Chen Li-hui (陳孋輝) and Lin Yi-hua (林奕華) on whether Ma would throw his weight behind the proposal.

The proposal was made earlier in the morning by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) councilors Liu Yao-ren (劉耀仁), Lee Wen-ying (李文英) and Lan Shih-tsung (藍世聰).

The three held a press conference in the morning to propose that the city enact an initiative and referendum bylaw of its own to provide a legal basis for citizens to decide on certain local issues.

Ma said his stance on the matter was clear.

"I support the idea of allowing people to voice their opinions via a referendum but it has to be conducted in accordance with the law," Ma said. "The result of a referendum has to be legally binding and people, not the government, should be the party to initiate such a move."

Liu, citing the Law on Local Government Systems (地方制度法), said that local government are authorized by the law to exercise the rights of initiative and referendum to decide local affairs.

"We hope the mayor can support our proposal to allow citizens over the age of 18 to voice their individual opinions via referendums on major local affairs such as the relocation of the city's Sungshan Airport," he said, adding that the city chapter of the DPP has completed the draft of the bylaw.

Lan said the city should take the initiative to enact a bylaw to let citizens be their own lord and master since Ma has been stressing that the city needs a legal basis to cooperate with the central government's referendum plan.

"Once approved by city council, the city will then be legally authorized to hold referendums," he said.

Ma has vowed to solicit support from other KMT-managed counties and cities to boycott the Cabinet's plan for holding a national referendum on or before the presidential election.

To counter that possibility, the Cabinet's referendum review committee has unveiled a contingency measure.

Cabinet Spokesman Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) yesterday called on local governments to cooperate with the central government's plan to hold referendums.

"Taipei City councilors' proposing to enact an initiative and referendum bylaw signifies that they're eager to see the legislation of such a law," Lin said. "The best-case-scenario is that the legislative body approves the referendum law which we sent to the legislature over a year ago as soon as possible."
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