The People First Party (PFP) and Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) yesterday revealed their own recommendations for constitutional reform, leaning more toward a parliamentary government system, but both denied the move was meant to undermine Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Ma Ying-jeou's (
TSU caucus whip Mark Ho (
"While we do not expect to finalize our draft of a Taiwan constitution by the end of the month, one thing remains clear: We would like to see the duties of the president and the premier clearly separated," he said.
Ho said that they are thinking of restoring the legislature's power of approving the president's appointment of the premier.
In addition, they would like to see the premier have the power of appointing his Cabinet members and dissolving the legislature with the approval of the president.
Ho said that his caucus is still assessing whether to team up with the PFP to push for their constitutional reforms.
PFP Legislator Chang Hsien-yao (
Chang said that what his party would really like to do is to reinstate the legislature's power to approve the president's appointment of the premier, an idea Chang said he believes Ma would support.
"There have been five premiers since the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) came to power in 2000, causing political instability," Chang said.
"We believe political tension can be greatly eased if the premier is approved by the legislature, which represents the highest voice of the people," he said.
Meanwhile, DPP Chairman Yu Shyi-kun said that his party hopes to see a new constitution finished before 2008, but he was not willing to clearly state his own preference about what a future government system should look like.
"Because we are a party dedicated to people's welfare and constitutional reform, we support any government system that promises long-term stability, upgrades the country's competitive edge and increases the government's efficiency," Yu said.
Yu made the remarks at the legislature yesterday morning after supervising the hand-over ceremony for the DPP's three new caucus leaders for the upcoming legislative session.
They are Ker Chien-ming (
Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (
"I personally don't think the PFP and TSU's proposals are targeted at Ma," he said.
"Whether it is a parliamentary, presidential or semi-presidential system, it is a topic that requires thorough debate," he said.
Wang said that he has previously suggested to the president that it is necessary to set up three task forces to study the pros and cons of the different government systems before presenting a concrete proposal for public debate.
While the three systems have advantages and disadvantages, The legislative spearker said that it was inappropriate for him to express his preference now.
He did, however, hint that the parliamentary system might be a better choice because "it seems a majority of people favor a parliamentary system."
Claiming that he was unaware of the PFP's and TSU's proposals, the KMT chairman yesterday reiterated the importance of implementing the Constitution rather than amending it.
However, Ma said that any new government system that secures the support of three-quarters of lawmakers and the final approval of the people would be acceptable.
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