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Group to monitor lawmakers' shenanigans

A coalition of non-governmental organizations said yesterday that its members will be sitting in on select legislative meetings to keep an eye on the nation's shoe-throwing, committee-skipping legislators in the new legislative session.

A South Korean program with similar aims has been watching the National Assembly in Seoul for the past eight years.

"Once legislators are elected, they are accountable to nobody. We want this to change," said Ho Tsung-hsun (何宗勳), deputy executor of the new Citizen Watch Alliance, which has the support of more than 30 non-governmental organizations, including the Taiwan Environmental Protection Union and the National Union of Taiwanese Women Association.

Ho cited showboating politicians, the stalled budget and neglected committee meetings as some of the reason why oversight was needed for the Legislative Yuan.

"Unlike the media cameras that only capture sensational moments, we will be watching whether legislators actually turn up to committee meetings and whether they are well-prepared," said Ho, who said that it was all too easy for legislators to sign in at a meeting before absconding soon after.

Lee Kyong-yul, chairman of South Korea's Environment Action Association and the founder of a similar citizen's watch scheme, was in Taipei yesterday to share his experience with legislator-watching.

For 20 days a year, his group submits legislative sessions to intense scrutiny, logging legislators' actions at half-hour intervals so that none could even take an extended "toilet break" without their absence being noted.

"The first time we tried to gain access [to the National Assembly], we were thrown out by staffers and security. We tried to sneak back in, but they threw us out again," he said.

Undeterred, Lee and his monitors started protesting outside the National Assembly.

Eventually, they were accepted and even granted their own seats so that they could better observe the proceedings.

Now that they have become established, Lee said, the tables have been turned, with legislators who formerly wanted to throw the monitors out now eager to court their approval.

"Now the legislators always make a point of greeting the monitors politely," Lee said. "They even make sure we're informed if they have a legitimate reason to be away from the meeting."

Response from legislators in Taiwan has been very positive so far, Ho said.
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