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Pan-blue voters `oppose' committee

A worker dusts off a seat at the Council of Grand Justices yesterday in preparation for today's hearing on whether to grant a temporary injunction against the 319 Shooting Truth Investigation Special Committee Statute. PHOTO: LIAO CHEN-HUI, TAIPEI TIMES

A Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) poll has found that 71 percent of respondents believe the 319 Shooting Truth Investigation Spe-cial Committee is flawed and that its terms of reference should be revised, while 50.1 percent said it should not start its work until the statue that formed it is amended.

"According to our latest polling, most people doubt the legitimacy and feasibility of the statute, and a large number of those surveyed, regardless of whether they support the green camp or the blue camp, thought there was much room for improvement with it," said DPP public survey center chief Pan I-hsuan (潘儀瑄) at a news conference yesterday.

The controversial statute gives committee members unchecked powers in probing the March 19 assassination attempt on President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮).

About 43 percent of those polled also agreed with the statement that "because many articles of the statute are irrelevant and violate current laws, the Executive Yuan has difficulties in cooperating with the demands of the investigative committee," while 31 percent disagreed.

Crucially, Pan said, of those who agreed with the statement, 35.2 percent were pan-blue supporters, which he said suggested that a sizable proportion of pan-blue supporters have misgivings over the statute.

Only 21 percent of those interviewed thought the investigative committee would assist the pan-blue camp's legislative campaign, while 37 percent thought the committee's actions would help the pan-green camp.

Pan said the survey showed that the investigative committee would hurt the pan-blue election campaign as a large number of people have the impression that the statute is illegitimate and violates the Constitution.

"The investigative committee is a setback for democracy and clearly shows the political violence that the pan-blue camp indulges in with their majority in the legislature," said DPP Information and Culture Department director Cheng Wen-tsan (鄭文燦).

Cheng said the DPP supports the suspension of committee activity and that it should not start work again unless cleared by the court.

Representatives from the pan-blue and pan-green camps will today debate the statute before the Council of Grand Justices.

Cheng quoted President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) comment that "the power of the statute is greater even than the abolished laws of the Martial Law era," and added that the statue was a ridiculous law that obviously infringed upon human rights and the independence of the judiciary.

"We urge committee members to stop abusing the power that the statue gives them and stop summoning people who have nothing to do with the shooting, which totally tramples on Taiwan's hard-won democracy," Cheng said.

The poll interviewed 1,012 adults by telephone last weekend.
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