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Ma urges legislature to pass general budget bill

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou answers questions from the local media yesterday. Earlier in the day, Ma held a meeting with international reporters. PHOTO: CHIEN JUNG-FONG, TAIPEI TIMES

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday called on the legislature to pass the general budget bill before the legislative session ends.

"I hope that my party and the caucus will consider it. Stalling the bill won't benefit anyone. The KMT should express its goodwill first in exchange for cooperation from the Democratic Progressive Party [DPP]," Ma said yesterday at KMT headquarters in Taipei.

While promising to help pass the general budget bill, Ma said that the management of state-owned enterprises budget bill and special budget proposal should not be included and would require further negotiations.

Urging the KMT caucus to take the initiative in bringing reconciliation to the deadlocked general budget bill, Ma called on the DPP to allow the Central Election Commission (CEC) Organic Law (中央選舉委員會組織法) to be reviewed as well.

"Stalling the general budget bill will benefit no-one. Maybe the KMT will feel wronged by giving in, but we don't want Taiwan and the people to be wronged," Ma said.

Asked to comment on the reasons behind his announcement, Ma said he made the proposal simply because the legislative session would end soon and the nation's development would suffer a setback if the legislature failed to pass the general budget bill.

He denied that the move was part of his campaign strategy.

Making the announcement on behalf of the KMT, Ma said he had brought up the idea and had discussed it with KMT Chairman Wu Poh-hsiung (吳伯雄), KMT Secretary-General Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) and Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平), gaining their full support.

Ma declined to comment on the KMT's strategies if the DPP refused to cooperate with it on the CEC law, reiterating his call on the DPP to make a goodwill gesture.

"We are not giving up the CEC law. I believe that the DPP don't want to let the Taiwanese people feel wronged, and they also love Taiwan," he added.

Responding to Ma's appeal, Wang said that Ma had spoken to him on phone about the matter yesterday afternoon.

"[Ma] told me that he wished the budget bill to be reviewed before the CEC bill, but I let him know that it would be hard to push the CEC bill through if the legislature passes the budget bill first. [Ma] should have understood this," Wang said.

Wang said what Ma had said was just his "personal wish," because "Ma is no longer in charge of the party headquarters, caucus or the legislature."

But Wang said that since talking to Ma, he had moved a cross-party negotiation meeting on the two bills ahead to this morning.

KMT legislative caucus whip Tseng Yung-chuan (曾永權) said that the caucus respected Ma's stance on the issue and would leave the decision to all caucus members.

"If the DPP chooses not to boycott a vote on the CEC bill, we can finish the reviews of the budget bill and the CEC bill within half an hour," Tseng said.

In response, DPP caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) urged Ma to "face the problem sincerely and help pass the budget bill without laying down any preconditions."

When approached for comment, Ker said it was only to be expected that Ma would give some thought to the budget bill, since it has been stalled in the legislature for half a year.

Ker said Ma was not showing the pan-green camp any goodwill by considering passage of the budget bill, but was doing so in response to political pressure as a result of the recent flooding brought about by heavy rain.

He said the DPP caucus would propose extending the legislative session should the budget bill remain blocked by the end of this legislative session.

Additional reporting by Flora Wang
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