The New Power Party (NPP) caucus yesterday staged a protest in the legislature, blasting the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) for vetoing its motions to review a bill to promote transitional justice and a draft amendment to the Referendum Act (公民投票法).
Led by NPP Executive Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌), the five NPP lawmakers held up placards and chanted slogans while their motions calling for a review of the DPP’s transitional justice bill and the amendment to the Referendum Act were being voted down by DPP lawmakers.
President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) promised during her election campaign to pass an amendment that would lower the thresholds for initiating and passing referendums before the end of this year, while the transitional justice bill was a central DPP policy in the early days of Tsai’s presidency.
The DPP caucus has delayed reviewing the transitional justice bill due to disagreements with other caucuses over the scope of state-owned land that the Japanese colonial government took from Aboriginal communities that should be returned to them.
DPP lawmakers said that the NPP is not in a position to point fingers because it did not submit its own transitional justice bill.
DPP Legislator Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤) said that there are only two versions of the transitional justice bill: hers and the DPP caucus’.
The transitional justice bill will “definitely” be passed before the current legislative session ends, she said, asking people to have faith in the DPP.
“Why do lawmakers who did not propose a bill repeatedly accuse the DPP of treating transitional justice with indifference?” Wu asked.
An NPP assistant, Lin Ying-meng (林穎孟), wrote on Facebook that the NPP did propose a transitional justice bill, titled the “bill on redressing historical justice and rights,” during the first legislative session last year, before Wu tabled hers.
The NPP’s bill has been shelved after DPP lawmakers last year voted it down during committee reviews due to differences in opinion between the two parties on reinstating Aboriginal land, Lin said.
The NPP nonetheless supports the DPP’s vision for promoting transitional justice, which is why it has been calling for the DPP caucus to swiftly put its bill to a committee review, where different opinions can be proposed and considered, she said.
Huang and NPP caucus convener Hsu Yung-ming (徐永明) could not be reached for comment as of press time last night.
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