Despite Beijing's intimidation and suppression, Taiwan should continue its efforts to push for constitutional reforms and Taiwanese people should have the final say on the context of the new Constitution, according to a poll released yesterday.
The survey, conducted by Taiwan Thinktank, questioned 1,145 adults between Sept. 1 and Sept. 3, found that 66 percent of the people polled said that the nation should continue constitutional reform over the the next four years to resolve constitutional controversy and disputes. Only 12 percent of the respondents were opposed to this.
In the survey, over 44 percent of those questioned said that the government should continue constitutional reforms despite Beijing's pressure, while 34 percent of the respondents said the reform efforts should be halted.
When asked whether the nation needed an amended Constitution or a brand new one, about 56 percent of the people questioned favored an overhauled version, while 23 percent preferred to rewrite the whole thing.
Final say
The poll also indicated that nearly 74 percent of the respondents said that the people should have the final say on the context of a new constitution, while about 15 percent of them said that they did not approve of the idea.
President Chen Shui-bian (
Seeking to reduce tensions with China and to reassure the US that his plans for a new constitution would not stir up trouble, Chen conceded in his inauguration speech in May this year that the first step of the constitutional reform would be to have the legislature pass a constitutional amendment, something he said during the election campaign that he wouldn't do.
Under Chen's plan, he would like to see the people of Taiwan ratify changes to the constitution through a national referendum in 2007 and see them enacted in 2008 to coincide with the inauguration of the next president.
While the Referendum Law (
While respondents were over-whelmingly supportive of constitutional reforms, they were more divided over the system of government. When asked whether ministers should follow the orders of the head of state or the premier if their policies were inconsistent, nearly 40 percent of the respondents said they should listen to the premier while about 31 percent of them said the president.
However, 37 percent said that Cabinet officials should listen to the legislature when the president's policies collide with those of the legislature, while about 31 percent of them said they should not listen to the legislature.
Political leanings
Chou Yung-hong (周永鴻), a researcher at Taiwan Thinktank, said that respondents' preferences for the government system had much to do with their political leanings.
"We found that while pan-green supporters prefer the presidential system, pan-blue supporters favor the parliamentary system," Chou said.
"Another thing worth mentioning is that both pan-blue and pan-green supporters think that the premier should be elected in the presidential election and that presidential elections should coincide with legislative polls," he said.
Currently, the premier is appointed by the head of state.
Hsu Yung-ming (徐永明), an assistant research fellow of the Academia Sinica, said that constitutional reform should deal with issues on which political parties were in general agreement, rather than making sweeping changes to the system of government.
"I'm afraid it'd be more difficult to carry out constitutional reform if political parties are trying to figure out the government system first because we can expect political bickering and haggling over the issue to handicap the reform process," Hsu said.
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