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Lee decries budget stalemate

Former president Lee Teng-hui, the Taiwan Solidarity Union's (TSU) spiritual leader, speaks in front of a group of TSU protesters gathered outside the Legislative Yuan yesterday. Lee called on the legislature to pass this year's government budget unconditionally by the end of the month. PHOTO: CHANG CHIA-MING, TAIPEI TIMES

Former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) yesterday called on the legislature to pass this year's government budget unconditionally by the end of this month.

Saying that the country's democracy has come to a halt, Lee said the political bickering between the ruling and opposition parties had sent the government into an idle spin and impeded democratic development.

"During my 12 years as president, I've never seen such a thing as the legislature failing to pass the government budget by May," he said. "This is the first time in history."

Lee made the remarks before a group of Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) members who were staging a sit-in protest outside the legislature yesterday afternoon. They started the protest on May 3, urging the legislature to pass the budget and vowing to continue the sit-in until their demand is met.

As the legislature should have passed the budget by the end of last year, Lee urged Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) to immediately call a meeting with party caucus leaders to hammer out a plan to defuse the crisis.

"The Cabinet was so preoccupied with who would be running for president that it did not care whether or not the legislature passed the budget."

-- Lee Teng-hui, former president

Lee said it was quite ironic to see a sit-in protest against the legislature.

"I fought for Taiwan's democratization during my presidency, but now the budget is still bogged down in the legislature," he said.

"I have no idea what has happened to the nation's democratization," he said.

"Let's just hope the next president will be more competent," he said.

Lee said having a legislature would be meaningless if it failed to perform its duties.

"The Cabinet was so preoccupied with who would be running for president that it did not care whether or not the legislature passed the budget," he said.

Lee said he realized how difficult negotiations were, but the executive and legislative branches had to work together and forsake partisan interests.

"I'm 86 years old. If I don't say anything, it seems like nobody will," he said.

Meanwhile, Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) accused the legislature yesterday of "accomplishing nothing" over the past seven years and violating the Constitution by failing to pass this year's budget.

"The government is literally `eating May's grain in April,'" she said. "It is unconstitutional for the legislature to fail to perform its duty and let the government budget sit idle in the legislature."

Lu added that it was unfair to hold the Presidential Office and Cabinet responsible for the gridlock, as the legislative meltdown could be attributed to many reasons, including ideological differences and questionable legislative rules.

"I hope legislative candidates clearly spell out remedies for the problem and tell their constituents how they are going to tackle the matter," she said.
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