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Ma says Cabinet needs new ideas

"[My opinions] differed from the Cabinet's, yet not from the public's."

Ma Ying-jeou, Taipei mayor

Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday hit back at criticism from Premier Yu Shyi-kun by urging the Cabinet to open itself up to new ideas.

On Monday, Yu cast doubt on Ma's interpretation of the defensive referendum clause by saying that the mayor's "legal view is always different from others." Ma had earlier argued that the clause still needed the approval of the Referendum Supervisory Committee which was created by the Referendum Law (公民投票法) passed last week.

"I think one person's straightforward words are better than thousands of people's flattery," Ma said yesterday, quoting Historical Records (史記), the Chinese historical texts written during Han dynasty.

"That is to say, the Cabinet should tolerate diverse opinions, otherwise the situation would become `what I say counts,' which is not good for the country," Ma said.

President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) pledged last Saturday that the government will hold a defensive referendum alongside the presidential election next March.

Ma said yesterday that the purpose of the committee's review was not political but legal. He added that committee members would only review whether the topics of the referendum met the law's provisions.

But the Cabinet has indicated that defensive referendums do not require the approval of the Referendum Supervisory Committee.

"From the Law Governing the Allocation of Government Revenues and Expenditures (財劃法), the Constitutional interpretation about the health insurance and the extension on borough wardens' term, Ma always maintained different ideas from others, which were the facts that the public knew well," Yu said.

Ma, however, retorted that his opinions had widespread support and that "eventually facts proved that I was right."

"[My opinions] differed from the Cabinet's, yet not from the public's," Ma said.

Ma raised several examples to demonstrate that his views were right even though they were different from the central government's.

Ma said the constitutional interpretations from the Council of Grand Justices had proved that the city government did not violate the Constitution concerning the health insurance case and the extension on borough wardens' term.

"Besides, my insistence that the Referendum Law cannot be launch-ed by the government and that a source of law needs to be created has been accepted by the legislature," Ma said.

Yu yesterday said his comments on Ma were "a description of facts, rather than a personal judgment."

"Actually Ma's ideas often differ from those of the Chinese Nationalist Party and People First Party. I just expressed the facts," Yu said.
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