The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) whip yesterday criticized the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), accusing it of being “insincere” over its calls for constitutional reform after a constitutional amendment committee was convened, but a proposal to set the committee up was not discussed.
DPP caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) said the KMT has placed the proposal for setting up the committee behind controversial motions to confirm Control Yuan nominees and establish an oversight mechanism for cross-strait agreements.
Ker said the way the KMT had prioritized the agenda was “full of political calculation.”
The motion to set up the committee — which was proposed by legislators across the party lines in response to public calls to amend the Constitution in a bid to end the political impasse — was placed on the legislative discussion agenda on Tuesday with an eye to seeing it passed yesterday.
However, the legislature did not deal with the proposal, leaving it to the next meeting on Tuesday.
Despite the deferral, the KMT party caucus resolved to establish a task force to look at constitutional amendments “in response to the motion to set up the committee tabled by more than 40 legislators across the party lines.”
With KMT Legislator Lu Hsueh-chang (呂學樟) as its convener, the committee is to examine possible revisions of the Constitution “according to the principle of power being commensurate with accountability and corresponding to the current constitutional-political system,” KMT caucus whip Alex Fai (費鴻泰) said.
“The controversies about cross-strait relations and unification or independence should be avoided lest the amendment process be stalled,” Fai said.
As for what kind of political institution the party regards as the most ideal, Fai said there have been different opinions offered, such as a parliamentary system, having the president double as premier or a revival of the legislature’s right to approve the president’s appointment of the premier, and that they would be thoroughly discussed and eventually summarized and proposed as a draft amendment.
Meanwhile, Ker criticized New Taipei City Mayor Eric Chu (朱立倫), the sole contender to be the next KMT chairman, for publicly advocating a parliamentary system without first consulting his own party.
“This made him more like [President] Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) than Ma Ying-jeou himself,” Ker said. “Chu should undertake party reform before initiating constitutional reform.”
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