Issues that have not been generally agreed upon by the public are not appropriate to be included in current constitutional reforms, President Chen Shui-bian (
Chen made the remarks while attending the opening ceremony of an exhibition of archive relating to the Republic of China (ROC) Constitution.
Chen noted that the Constitution was amended six times during the past decade. Constrained by the political situation at the time, however, every amendment could only address specific issues.
AVOIDING MISTAKES
In this way, some problems might have been solved, but additional problems in the operations of the Constitution might have also been produced, he said.
To avoid repeating the same mistake, Chen said there should be more comprehensive consideration and complementary measures in the current review while establishing a new system for the sustainable development of the nation.
He stressed that the constitutional re-engineering project is important for Taiwan to move forward to becoming a "normal country,"and that the process will forge national consensus and a common experience in implementing democratic principles.
For this reason, he reaffirmed that any issues that the public has yet to come to a consensus on shouldn't be included in the present constitutional reforms to avoid additional disputes.
He noted that the first nationwide referendum -- held alongside the presidential election last year -- and the just-concluded National Assembly elections, which has all but assured that popular referendums on future constitutional amendments will be the norm, have shown that the timing and conditions for reforming the Constitution are right.
COMMON ASPIRATION
"Taiwan people will use ballots to decide directly a Constitution that is aspired to by all," he said.
He also recalled that he led an initiative to ask for the Council of Grand Justices for an interpretation of the Constitution, which led to the revamping of the Legislative Yuan in 1992.
He also said that three-fourths of the members of the council had to agreed to the interpretation of the Constitution at that time, instead of the current threshold of only two-thirds.
Chen said he welcomed everyone to come to the exhibition to learn more about Taiwan's constitutional history.
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