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Ma promises to respect new nominee

Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng, left, and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Ma Ying-jeou meet at Wang's residence yesterday. Wang invited Ma to discuss the appointment of the state public prosecutor-general and the arms procurement bill. PHOTO: WANG MIN-WEI, TAIPEI TIMES

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday said that his party would respect President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) nomination for state public prosecutor-general, but there was no guarantee that the KMT caucus would OK the new nominee.

Ma made the remarks yesterday after meeting with Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) to discuss the KMT caucus' position on the nomination, the approval of members of the Control Yuan and the arms procurement bill.

"We hope the president won't limit his nomination to certain people because the state public prosecutor-general is not just a civil servant, but an administrative officer," Ma said.

The KMT caucus rejected Hsieh Wen-ding (謝文定), the president's nomination for state public prosecutor-general earlier this month.

Ma said he has demanded his party caucus reform its review system, which would allow the nominee to make a statement and establish a secret ballot so that legislators can cast their votes freely.

Both the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) said yesterday that they supported the renomination of Hsieh for state public prosecutor-general, despite the fact that he was vetoed by the pan-blue camp last week.

DPP caucus whip Chen Chin-jun (陳景峻) said yesterday that Hsieh is the best candidate for the position as he has a perfect record regarding his personality, reputation and integrity and the veto of his appointment was just a consequence of the current political climate.

TSU legislative caucus David Huang (黃適卓) echoed the DPP's view, saying the TSU would back Hsieh's appointment.

But according to the Law Governing Legislators' Exercise of Power (立法院職權行使法), if a candidate nominated by the president is vetoed, the president needs to nominate a different candidate.

Both the DPP and TSU caucus whips said they will solve the problem by seeking cross-party negotiations with the pan-blue camp.

Regarding the long-delayed arms procurement bill, Ma yesterday reiterated his expectation that his party caucus would reach a consensus as soon as possible.

"I've asked our caucus to restart the negotiation mechanism to reach consensus on the issue with our pan-blue allies and independent legislators," Ma said.

The KMT will further discuss the bill with the government after the pan-blue camp reach a consensus, he said.

Wang said it would be possible to put the bill onto the legislative agenda during this legislative session.

The bill has been blocked by the pan-blue camp in the legislature's Procedure Committee 52 times since the beginning of the legislative term in February last year.

"The bill [trimmed to] a reasonable scope should be deliberated [by legislators]," Wang said, referring to the amended arms procurement package that the Ministry of National Defense (MND) presented to the Executive Yuan.

Wang said the amended package, funded using the MND's annual budget instead of a special budget, will be sent to the legislature for review soon.

The amended package includes the purchase of 12 P-3C anti submarine airplanes, the upgrade of the PAC-2 Patriot missile batteries, and a preliminary budget for buying eight diesel-electric submarines.

Additional reporting by Jewel Huang
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