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Civic groups agree on coalition to push for greater change

"If the DPP wins the presidency, it will inevitably have to work with the KMT, making both parties de facto ruling parties."

Wang Jung-chang, former secretary-general of the Alliance for Handicapped People

Faced with a new legislature in which the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) occupies an absolute majority, civic organizations should collaborate more and build stronger grassroots connections, social groups said in Taipei yesterday.

Representatives from groups working with a variety of social issues reached an initial consensus at a meeting to review past strategies to push for changes in society.

Former secretary-general of the Alliance for Handicapped People and former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislator Wang Jung-chang (王榮璋) said social welfare groups' past strategy of working with political parties had generated only minimal progress.

"We used to ask politicians to make campaign promises when they ran for public offices," Wang said. "But it's obvious that campaign promises didn't work; whether they made a promise and whether they kept their promises did not directly affect whether they would be elected or not."

"There are many groups out there, but do we have the ability to mobilize [enough influence]?" he asked.

With the KMT occupying a two-thirds majority in the legislature, the situation will only worsen, Wang said.

"If the DPP wins the presidency, it will inevitably have to work with the KMT, making both parties de facto ruling parties," he said. "If the KMT wins the presidency, well, there won't be any checks and balances in the legislature."

In response to this situation, groups must work together more closely to combine their strengths, secretary-general of the Gender/Sexuality Rights Association Wang Ping (王萍) said.

"A lot of us used to think: `Everything is fine if I'm doing well.' We have to go beyond that," she said.

Bruce Liao (廖元豪), a consultant to the Alliance of Immigration Rights Protection, proposed some measures aimed at connecting the groups with the public.

"We can find a group of issue-oriented voters to pressure candidates in certain key districts, for example," Liao said.

With the new single-district electoral system, a lot of districts have become smaller, he said, adding that this would facilitate creating an influential voting bloc to put pressure on candidates.

"Instead of lobbying government officials or lawmakers, we should maybe try to work from the grassroots up from now on," Liao said.

Liao also suggested that civic groups form a coalition.

"If one group has something, then all the others in the coalition can throw their support behind that group and vice versa," he said.

Although all representatives backed the strategy, the proposal still faces challenges.

It could prove difficult for a cross-group coalition, as many civic groups "only focus on the issues they care about and are unfamiliar with what happens outside of their domains," Media Watch chairman Kuan Chung-hsiang (管中祥) said.

In addition, Wang Ping said, civic groups sometimes have opposing views on important social issues or represent the interests of different groups.
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