KMT legislators blame DPP for stalling anti-graft bills

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislators Joanna Lei (雷倩) and Wu Yu-sheng (吳育昇) yesterday said the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus was responsible for stalling of several proposed anti-corruption bills in the legislature.

Lei told a press conference that during the last legislative session, which ended on Jan. 19, DPP caucus whip and Legislator Kao Chien-chih (高建智), who convened six meetings of the Home and Nations Committee and DPP Legislator Chen Chin-de (陳金德), who convened nine Organic Laws and Statues Committee meetings, put nine anti-corruption, or "sunshine," bills that it proposed to the committee review agenda on a total of only four occasions.

Showing the press statistics from the Parliamentary Library, she said the KMT had given priority to five anti-corruption bills it had proposed since last November and put them to committee reviews and cross-party negotiations on more than 10 occasions when she and Wu served as conveners of committee meetings.

The DPP and KMT caucuses proposed and promoted different anti-corruption bills related to the Political Party Law (政黨法), the lobby law, and Political Donation Law (政治獻金法).

Lei said the DPP caucus had been pre-occupied with putting articles designed to force the KMT to return its stolen assets to the nation in an amendment to the Political Party Law.

"Although the DPP said it proposed sunshine bills in order to bring reforms to the nation, it was enmeshed in a number of scandals and was not disposed to put these bills onto the committee review agenda," she said.

Wu said DPP Chairman Yu Shyi-kun and Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) should be blamed as a result because they may not have insisted that the DPP caucus review the sunshine bills, but he did not present evidence to back his claim.

"The DPP should be called the `dark clouds' of Taiwan instead of the `sunshine of Taiwan.' It is a ruling party that has maliciously prevented the nation from developing normally," he said.

However, the KMT's criticism was denounced as lies by the DPP caucus. Caucus whip Yeh Yi-chin (葉宜津) said the KMT's criticism showed it would not have the sincerity to approve the government fiscal budget, which failed to be passed on the last day of the session, if an extended legislative session were held this week.

"Obviously the KMT was trying to deceive people," DPP Legislator Hsu Kuo-yung (徐國勇) said.