Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) yesterday said Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng’s (王金平) proposal for legislative reform has come too late, accusing Wang of only now bringing it up as political manipulation.
Wang recently called on Ker, as well as other legislative candidates, including the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) Cheng Cheng-ling (鄭正鈴) and the New Power Party’s Chiu Hsien-chih (邱顯智) to join efforts for legislative reform.
Wang’s proposal includes pushing for the legislature to have the power to launch investigations, the power to use police force and the ability to organize parliamentary hearings.
“The KMT has always held a majority in the legislature, so why does it care so much about legislative reform all of a sudden? Why did it not push for it in the past?” Ker asked at a news conference.
Over the past 20 years, the DPP repeatedly made proposals for legislative reform, but such proposals were blocked by the KMT caucus 1,023 times, Ker said, adding: “In fact, the KMT caucus on Friday last week boycotted a DPP-proposed reform bill.”
Ker said he does not understand why the KMT caucus would boycott the DPP’s proposal for legislative reforms on Friday, only to call on the DPP to stop blocking legislative reform this week.
“The DPP has been pushing for legislative reform for 20 years, please do not try to humiliate us,” Ker said.
“Wang might want to do something at the end of this legislative term, but it is too late,” Ker said. “This is clearly just a case of political manipulation.”
There are only about two weeks left in this legislative term, as the current session of the legislature is to end in the middle of this month, Ker said, adding that there is definitely not enough time to push through all reforms.
“Take the power to launch investigations, for example. This should be carefully planned to avoid lawmakers abusing the power for political purposes or to benefit large corporations,” Ker said. “If the legislature is to be empowered to launch probes, how does that affect the Control Yuan’s ability to conduct investigations? Should such a capability be completely moved to the Legislative Yuan?”
If the legislature is to have more capabilities, the Act Governing the Legislative Yuan’s Exercise of Power (立法院職權行使法) would have to be amended as well, Ker said.
Ker, who has been Wang’s colleague and close friend for nearly 20 years, despite a difference in party affiliation, said that his friendship with Wang remains unchanged, regardless of the dispute over political opinion.
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