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KMT threatens to abolish Cabinet appeal committee

The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislative caucus threatened yesterday to abolish the Cabinet's Committee of Appeal if the latter overruled the Referendum Review Committee's rejection late last month of a proposal on holding a referendum on the country's UN bid under the name Taiwan.

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairman Yu Shyi-kun filed a complaint with the Committee of Appeal last week after the request was turned down by the Referendum Review Committee.

The Committee of Appeal is expected to discuss the complaint today.

"According to regulations, the DPP should file a lawsuit against the Referendum Review Committee in the administrative court and not file a complaint with the Committee of Appeal," KMT legislative caucus whip Tseng Yung-chuan (曾永權) said.

Tseng said the DPP had not followed regulations because it was confident the Committee of Appeal would bend to the party's wishes.

"We would propose an amendment in the legislature to do away with the Committee of Appeal if it upholds the request," he said.

The pan-blue dominated Referendum Review Committee shot down the DPP's proposal to hold a UN referendum by a vote of 20 to 8.

In protest, seven committee members immediately tendered their resignation following the committee's decision to reject the proposal.

Referendum Review Committee Chairman Kao Yuang-kuang (高永光) said the committee decided to veto the proposal because referendums were reserved for controversial issues of public concern.

While filing the complaint to the Committee of Appeal last week, Yu said the Referendum Review Committee's rejection was illegal and unconstitutional because a referendum is a democratic mechanism through which the people can directly exercise their rights.
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