New bills create a monster
One of my neighbors is a high-school student. He mentioned to me how surprised he was that the legislators of the blue and white camps would vote on draft amendments without discussion first, because even in a class meeting at high-school, every proposal that students make needs to be discussed among all members of the class before it is put to a vote. This is democratic literacy at its most basic, so why is it that high-school students appear to be more “literate” than opposition camp lawmakers?
Not long ago, opposition lawmakers pushed through five draft amendments to expand the legislature’s power. Some of them were not even clear about the content of the amendments, and blindly followed the instructions of the caucus whips to force a vote just to pass the bills. Such blatant disregard of legislative procedure not only hurts the democratic system established in Taiwan for many years, but also makes the people who voted for the opposition lawmakers disappointed and even angry.
Among the amendments recently passed by opposition lawmakers that could have the biggest impact on people’s freedom and rights are punishment for officials deemed to have committed “contempt of the legislature” by making false statements or withholding key information, and the legislature’s power of investigation.
Can you imagine that in the future, an official of the central government might be sentenced under the Criminal Code if he or she makes a few unpleasant remarks to a lawmaker during a question-and-answer session at the Legislative Yuan? Do you understand that a private enterprise might be unable to refuse when asked by the legislature to hand over its books or files because of these investigative powers?
After the passage of the amendments, would the legislature not become a monster with unchecked power?
Yeh Yu-cheng
Taipei
Time to protect democracy
In an environment where the international situation has intensified, Taiwan faces multiple threats from China and, in particular, infiltration and espionage operations. Several cases have surfaced in recent years that shed light on the severity of the problem. There are serious examples of contraventions of the National Security Act (國安法), including by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Hsu Chiao-hsin’s (徐巧芯) alleged divulging of secrets pertaining to Ukraine; Lee Shang-tien (李尚典) and Kuo Pei-chin (郭佩金) acting as mules for election funding from China for a KMT candidate in Hualien County; and retired air force colonel Liu Sheng-ju’s (劉聖恕) attempt to set up a spy network in the military.
The National Security Act, Anti-Infiltration Act (反滲透法) and the Classified National Security Information Protection Act (國家機密保護法) are meant to safeguard national security. However, these laws have their limitations. Taiwan must have an “agents law” to advance the nation’s resistance against Chinese Communist Party infiltration and spying, bolster the effectiveness of laws already on the books, halt any form of espionage and guarantee Taiwan’s democracy and security.
On Friday last week, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) intentionally ignored the public will, and did not follow legislative procedures. They are acting like hooligans, intent on forcing fake reforms through the legislature. In essence, they are Chinese agents. This kind of situation keeps occurring. They are waiting for the right opportunity to set fires everywhere when the public is not watching. While we are busy, forced to put out one fire, they make their move and set another attack on democracy.
Whether the Democratic Progressive Party can adeptly use executive powers to fight off the KMT and TPP’s power grabs in the legislature remains to be seen. However, it is certain that the KMT and TPP have already made it clear that it is doing China’s bidding behind the scenes, trying to drag down Taiwan’s economy, paralyze the legislature and cause the public to lose trust in the government.
These two parties’ shenanigans are one of the factors for Taiwanese indifference toward politics.
If we want to resolve this predicament, we might all need to continuously call for Taiwanese to take to the streets to effect change.
If the time comes, are you willing to protect our democracy together?
Yeh Hsin-yi
Tainan
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