The Cabinet yesterday approved the two questions President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) proposed for the referendum to be held in tandem with the presidential election on March 20.
The Referendum Law (公民投票法) stipulates that the president has the right to initiate a referendum to safeguard the sovereignty and security of the nation if the president deems national security is under threat and sovereignty is in jeopardy. The initiative, however, must be endorsed by a Cabinet resolution.
PHOTO: CHEN TSE-MING, TAIPEI TIMES
In the referendum, the voters will be asked whether they support enhancing the nation's defenses should China refuse to withdraw the missiles it has targeted at Taiwan and to openly renounce the use of force, as well as whether the government should hold talks with China on cross-strait peace and stability.
Vowing to honor Chen's pledge, Premier Yu Shyi-kun called on the electorate to take advantage of the opportunity to cast their ballots in the first national referendum.
"Democracy won't be complete if people cannot fully exercise their given rights of direct democracy," Yu told the press conference after the weekly closed-door Cabinet meeting yesterday morning.
Referendum is the most concrete means of democracy and nothing could be a substitute for this basic right or circumscribe it, Yu said.
"A nation may slow down its process of democratization but it cannot be stopped unless it's not a democratic country," Yu said.
Responding to the opposition camp's questioning the necessity of the planned referendum, Yu said that the referendum is not only necessary but also meaningful.
"In addition to telling the world that we aspire to pursue regional peace and safeguard our land, we're sending out the message that we'd like to strengthen our defense capabilities and accelerate cross-strait talks," he said.
Regarding the specifications of the referendum ballot, Yu said that the Central Election Commission (CEC) has not yet finalized the form, color or design.
"All media reports about the ballot are mere speculation or just one of the many possibilities the CEC is considering," Yu said. "The bottom line is that the ballot has to be simple, easy to understand and convenient for the electorate to cast their vote."
Speculation mounts that the CEC would ask voters to mark "O" or "X" on the two questions of referendum instead of the original planned "agree" or "disagree."
While the Cabinet had originally hoped to print the two questions of the referendum on two separate ballots, Cabinet Spokesman Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) has suggested that they might print them on one single ballot.
In what was seen as a last-ditch effort to voice his opposition to the referendum, Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (
"What I said today will be recorded in the history books, and I believe people will eventual take my side," he said.
Ma stressed that what he opposed was the necessity and legitimacy of the referendum, not the mechanism of direct democracy itself.
"I don't think the referendum is necessary because the two questions are not at all controversial and the public has a high consensus about them," he said.
Ma's speech was dismissed by Minister without Portfolio Hsu Chih-hsiung (
"To hold the refererndum is to trust the wisdom of the people. I don't understnad why it's so hard to let the people be their own lord and master," he said. "Every individual wants to leave some record in the history books, but one must not forget that history has its good records and also bad ones," Hsu said.
Additional reporting by Jewel Huang.
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