The exercise of the Legislative Yuan's right of approval over those nominated for high-level government posts has turned the hallowed halls of democracy into a bloody battlefield.
In the face of nearly universal condemnation, the legislature does, of course, have room to examine its own performance and make improvements. However, it shouldn't be indiscriminately charged with vicious fighting, being the source of chaos, or as sinking to new depths. In fact, the primary factors behind the current political turmoil are a mistaken perception of constitutional government on the part of party leaders in both the ruling and opposition parties and their mistaken strategies for exercising the right of approval.
Because the Constitution stipulates that the Executive Yuan must be responsible to the Legislative Yuan, opposition parties have always defined our system of government as a Cabinet sys-tem. Seizing any issue or opportunity, the opposition will challenge the policies of the DPP administration -- as seen in the debate over the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant, the dispute over the work week and the reconsideration of the Law Governing the Allocation of Gov-ernment Revenues and Expenditures (財劃法).
This model of opposition parties "supervising" the ruling party is still within the realm of appro-priate parliamentary politics and responsible government. How-ever, if the opposition parties attempt to use the capacity of the right of approval to interfere with the president's appointment of politically neutral officials, this has to be considered a misuse of the Cabinet system's stage for partisan wrangling. If the opposition parties are not satisfied with the government, they should start a motion to topple the Cabinet and not look at every presidential nomination as an opportunity to lock horns with the ruling party, thereby forgetting the point of supervision.
As for the ruling party, our president operates as though our system were a presidential sys-tem, but at the same time he continually throws fuel on the fire of partisan opposition. The characteristic of a typical presidential system, such as in the US, is not opposition between parties, but opposition between organs of the government. Executive power and legislative power each have their own basis, creating a relationship of mutual checks and balances.
The political parties in the US system are "soft" parties. The president's operations within the US Congress are diverse and can transcend party politics. Ruling party lawmakers in the Congress don't necessarily hold the same positions the president holds. Taking the Republican Party as an example, the percentage of Republican lawmakers holding the same policy positions as the president was highest during the administration of former president Ronald Reagan, when it reached 90 percent, and they were ridiculed as "Reagan's robots."
If Taiwan's president considers himself the head of state in a presidential system, he should be good to others in the legislature, regardless of their party affilia-tion, and not create senseless opposition between parties for the sake of building up his own aura as president.
In addition, the DPP should not lightly brandish party discipline or the threat of levying fines to restrain the conduct of its own legislators. When the ruling party makes use of party discipline, the opposition parties will be forced to resort to the same measures. This can easily evolve into a zero-sum contest between parties that com-presses the space the president has in the legislature to act freely.
Furthermore, in a presidential system, when the president tries to rally support from opposition party legislators, he will generally adopt a strategy of "horse trading." In other words, the president lends his support to bills favored by legislators in exchange for their support on the bills he favors. Generally speaking, the bills favored by the legislators are ones that relate to the interests of their own constituencies.
Looking back on the the small number of key legislators who were "encouraged" by the DPP to defect from the opposition during the recent confirmation votes, all had legal problems or heavy debts. It was purely a matter of exploiting personal problems and had nothing to do with the interests of the public or of local constituencies. This completely distorted the power of persuasion and strategy of making trades that the president should employ in a presidential system.
Before we can amend the Constitution and clarify the powers and responsibilities within the government, orderly constitutional government must be upheld. At a minimum, the authorities in power must restrain themselves. The opposition alliance should also put general interests first and do its best to avoid partisan wrangling that can be exploited by unscrupulous special interests. In this way, politics in the legislature can return to a basis of rational voting and partisan negotiations.
More proactively, the ruling and opposition parties can define new rules to play by. In 2004, after a new president and new legislature have been chosen, if the president's party or the alliance he belongs to controls an absolute majority in the legislature, then the president can operate under a presidential system and appoint a submissive and obedient chief executive or chief of staff to serve as premier.
If, however, the president's party or alliance holds a minority status in the legislature, then the president will have to find a shrewd and capable person who is acceptable to both ruling and opposition parties to serve as premier. This will highlight the spirit of respect for a legislative majority that a Cabinet system requires. This sort of a mechanism for change could be an expedient measure under the current muddled and disorderly system of constitutional government.
Shen Fu-hsiung is a DPP legislator.
Translated by Ethan Harkness
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