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Academics take aim at `unqualified' candidates

The Taiwan Competitiveness Forum, a think tank made up of university professors, yesterday launched an online campaign asking voters to "recommend" which legislative candidates should be boycotted in next month's elections.

Hawang Shiow-duan (黃秀端), a member of the forum and a political science professor at Soochow University, told a press conference that several surveys have suggested that people are generally dissatisfied with the legislature.

However, with the number of legislative seats being halved to 113 next year, legislators may enjoy greater authority than ever and some may abuse that power, she said.

power

"The legislative committees will be controlled by a small number of legislators. The problems that could arise as a result of [legislators'] increasing power are unimaginable," said Jeff Lin (林建甫), convener of the forum.

Lin said the forum's campaign was inspired by a movement launched by approximately 1,000 civil societies in South Korea in 2000, during which voters were encouraged to boycott incompetent candidates nominated by political parties.

Fifty-nine of the 86 congress candidates boycotted by the movement lost the election, Lin said. In Seoul, he said, 19 of the 20 candidates targeted by the campaign were defeated.

"In the past, all we could do was clean up the mess [left behind by incompetent legislators]," Lin said. "Only when people stand up and tell candidates what they do and don't want can appropriate legislators be elected."

The slogan for the forum's campaign is "If Korea can, Taiwan can."

statement

The statement issued by the forum read: "Water fights, throwing shoes, using locks and super glue to interfere with plenary sessions, cursing inside the legislative building, illegal lobbying, frequenting guesthouses and stalling bills concerning people's livelihood are all examples [of the misdeeds perpetrated by] legislators we elected with our sacred ballots. But is there really no way out?"

Thomas Peng (彭錦鵬), the forum's secretary-general, said the campaign was not targeted at specific individuals.

Peng said "recommendations" would be accepted on the forum's Web site until Jan. 3. Interested parties are invited to recommend one competent and one incompetent candidate in each electoral district.

Voters can also select six legislator-at-large candidates they consider qualified and six others they would like to boycott in each political party's lineup, Peng said.

"Even if we can only prevent three or five incompetent candidates from being elected, we will still have made a major contribution to Taiwanese society," Peng said.

Also See: EDITORIAL: When parties get off scot-free

Also See: Large-scale reform of legislature is required
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