About 40 members of the People Rule Foundation yesterday marched in Taipei in a silent appeal to President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) to honor her promise to amend the Referendum Act (公民投票法) by the end of the year, which they said is an important step toward “normalizing” the nation.
Setting out in the morning from MRT Yuanshan Station, the marchers passed the Dadaocheng (大稻埕) area before reaching the Legislative Yuan, their final destination, concluding a walk of about 15km that lasted almost seven hours.
Wearing white T-shirts and bamboo hats, the marchers followed an approach the foundation described as “nonviolent protest,” walking in silence until they arrived in front of the legislature, where they rallied and shouted slogans.
Photo: CNA
Foundation chief executive officer Liu Ming-hsin (劉明新) called on lawmakers to swiftly pass a proposed amendment to the act, which passed its first reading in December last year.
The proposed amendment would lower the number of signatures required to decide the topic of a referendum — the first stage — from 0.5 percent to 0.0001 percent of the total number of eligible voters in presidential elections.
That would bring down the number of signatures needed in the first stage from about 94,000 to about 1,800.
For a signature drive that is held during the second stage of a referendum drive, the threshold for the second stage of a referendum drive to succeed would be brought down to 1.5 percent of the total number of eligible voters in a presidential election, from 5 percent, bringing the requirement down to about 280,000 signatures.
The proposal would abolish the stipulation that a referendum outcome is valid only if more than 50 percent of all eligible voters vote and the “yes” votes account for at least 50 percent of the total number of votes cast.
According to the draft amendment, the outcome of a referendum would be valid if one-fourth of all eligible voters cast a ballot and a majority of votes is in favor of the proposal.
The amendment also seeks to lower the voting age for referendums from 20 to 18.
If the proposed amendment is passed, it would give the nation an “amulet” that would allow the people to decide whether to amend the Constitution to grant Taiwan the status of a “normalized nation,” thereby defending it from the “bullying of foreign forces,” Liu said.
“By amending the act, we would be able to enlighten the public and return the power to decide on national affairs from lawmakers to the people, realizing true democracy,” Liu said.
He called on Tsai to honor her pledge and urged lawmakers to help the bill clear the legislative floor during the third extraordinary session starting on Aug 21 or the next legislative session starting in September.
Taiwanese scientists have engineered plants that can capture about 50 percent more carbon dioxide and produce more than twice as many seeds as unmodified plants, a breakthrough they hope could one day help mitigate global warming and grow more food staples such as rice. If applied to major food crops, the new system could cut carbon emissions and raise yields “without additional equipment or labor costs,” Academia Sinica researcher and lead author the study Lu Kuan-jen (呂冠箴) said. Academia Sinica president James Liao (廖俊智) said that as humans emit 9.6 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide compared with the 220 billion tonnes absorbed
The Taipei Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) Wanda-Zhonghe Line is 81.7 percent complete, with public opening targeted for the end of 2027, New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) said today. Surrounding roads are to be open to the public by the end of next year, Hou said during an inspection of construction progress. The 9.5km line, featuring nine underground stations and one depot, is expected to connect Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall Station to Chukuang Station in New Taipei City’s Jhonghe District (中和). All 18 tunnels for the line are complete, while the main structures of the stations and depot are mostly finished, he
Taipei is to implement widespread road closures around Taipei 101 on Friday to make way for large crowds during the Double Ten National Day celebration, the Taipei Department of Transportation said. A four-minute fireworks display is to be launched from the skyscraper, along with a performance by 500 drones flying in formation above the nearby Nanshan A21 site, starting at 10pm. Vehicle restrictions would occur in phases, they said. From 5pm to 9pm, inner lanes of Songshou Road between Taipei City Hall and Taipei 101 are to be closed, with only the outer lanes remaining open. Between 9pm and 9:40pm, the section is
China’s plan to deploy a new hypersonic ballistic missile at a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Rocket Force (PLARF) base near Taiwan likely targets US airbases and ships in the western Pacific, but it would also present new threats to Taiwan, defense experts said. The New York Times — citing a US Department of Defense report from last year on China’s military power — on Monday reported in an article titled “The missiles threatening Taiwan” that China has stockpiled 3,500 missiles, 1.5 times more than four years earlier. Although it is unclear how many of those missiles were targeting Taiwan, the newspaper reported
RSS