Tue, May 10, 2005 page2

• Nuke-4 RIA holds relay hunger strike

  • By Ko Shu-ling / STAFF REPORTER
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  With the National Assembly election approaching, the Nuke-4 Referendum Initiative Association (Nuke-4 RIA, 核四公投促進會) staged a 113-hour relay sit-in and hunger strike outside the legislature yesterday, asking political parties to make good on their promise of constitutional amendments.

  The group also called on the legislature to pass the law governing the National Assembly's exercise of power (國民大會職權行使法).

  The legislature is deadlocked over the bill, while the election is slated for Saturday. The law would detail how the assembly should carry out its duties.

  About 20 members of the Nuke-4 RIA circumambulated the legislative compound before staging a peaceful sit-in in front of the Chinan Church next to the legislature. The event is scheduled to conclude at 3am Saturday.

  Chief executive of the association Iap Phok-bun (葉博文) said that their appeal is clear and simple.

  "Reform should not be a slogan but should be real actions," he said. "We'd like to see politicians keep the promises they made four years ago and take advantage of the golden opportunity to conduct reform of the legislature."

  Iap said that he would like to see Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) wield his power to help pass the law governing the National Assembly's exercise of power before Saturday's election.

  Since the Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) and the People First Party (PFP) have changed their position on the constitutional amendment, Iap called on the electorate to support the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), which are in favor of the constitutional amendment package passed by the legislature last August, and abandon those political parties reneging on their pledges.

  Office director of the association Wu Chien-kuo (吳建國) said that his association cares more about whether the constitutional reform would be successful than the actual content of the reform.

  "We are for the constitutional reform because it is the consensus of the ruling and opposition parties," he said.

  "There is no need for us to debate the issue with anyone because we are not the one who passed the constitutional amendment package nor a political party or private group participating in the upcoming election," Wu said.

  Echoing Wu's opinion, Iap said that the group is apparently barking up the wrong tree and should instead challenge the DPP and KMT.

  Wu and Iap made the remarks in response to the request made by the Democratic Action Alliance (民主行動聯盟), which also staged a sit-in outside of the legislature yesterday.

  The alliance nominated 150 candidates for the Assembly election and has vowed to veto the constitutional amendment package.

  Chanting "oppose money monopoly, oppose party monopoly" and holding placards reading "oppose populism, hold rational constitutional debate" and "people vs. party," about 10 alliance members challenged the founder of the Nuke-4 Referendum Initiative Association and former DPP chairman Lin I-hsiung (林義雄) for a public debate on the issue.

  Alliance convenor Chang Ya-chung (張亞中) said that Lin should be held responsible because the legislature bowed to his pressure last year and passed the constitutional amendment package.

  Halving the number of seats in the legislature and adopting the "single-member district, two-vote" system for legislative elections would not solve the inefficiency problem of the legislature, he said.

  "When a person suffers from bad health, it does not necessarily help the person regain his health by simply losing weight," he said.
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