Thu, Feb 13, 2025 page8

• Vision for Taiwan after mass recall

  • By Lin Chin-kuo 林進國
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  With the manipulations of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), it is no surprise that this year’s budget plan would make government operations difficult.

  The KMT and the TPP passing malicious legislation in the past year has caused public ire to accumulate, with the pressure about to erupt like a volcano. Civic groups have successively backed recall petition drives and public consensus has reached a fever-pitch, with no let up during the long Lunar New Year holiday.

  The ire has even breached the mindsets of former staunch KMT and TPP supporters. Most Taiwanese have vowed to use recalls to safeguard the homeland, and restore the normal operations of a rational and reasonable Legislative Yuan.

  Last year, Taiwan’s economic growth reached 4.3 percent. The nation not only led the group of “little dragon” economies, but also became a star among developed countries worldwide. National economic growth has performed superbly, pushing the main stock market index up to more than 23,000 points and there was an enormous boost in tax revenue.

  This year, the Executive Yuan proposed a budget expenditure of more than NT$3.2075 trillion (US$97.61 billion) to take care of people’s welfare and improve the nation.

  However, the KMT and the TPP jointly cut the budget by slashing a record of more than NT$207.5 billion, including a further NT$93.975 billion from the budget’s general provisions.

  It is clear that the KMT and the TPP are taking orders from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), whose goal is to obstruct Taiwan’s national resources to prevent it from sustaining the operations of a functioning society, forcing the government into inaction that sparks public ire so that it can reap ill dividends.

  It is as if the government set up a luxury resort that serves amazing, multi-course meals prepared by the most talented chefs, but the budget for the ingredients and cooking staff have been slashed by the KMT and the TPP. Now, all the public can do is gaze helplessly at a cordoned-off pantry with growling stomachs.

  Or, imagine a top-tier company with good-quality products and talented personnel, but whose fuel and electricity fee allowances have been canceled or reduced. Even with the best products and employees, all the workers can do is sigh in resignation with no path forward.

  Budget cuts like this year’s are meant to destroy the nation and bring Taiwanese to ruin. The only realistic solution is to use recalls to fire the preposterous legislators who have no qualms about harming their own country to mislead others.

  Once the recalls are over and the legislature is restored to reason, rationality and normalcy, lawmakers should prioritize the following:

  Firstly, the guidelines and process for the attainment of national ID cards by foreigners must be made more stringent and background checks more thorough. Many non-Chinese foreign nationals and Chinese spouses can obtain Alien Resident Certificates and enjoy social benefits meant for Taiwanese.

  The government should limit applications by foreign spouses for national ID cards to those who have resided in Taiwan for a minimum of 10 years. As for Chinese spouses, they should not be permitted to apply for national ID cards because the CCP has not resolved its enmity toward Taiwan.

  Second, Taiwanese who apply for Chinese citizenship should be stripped of their Republic of China (ROC) citizenship, as well as documents and IDs here.

  Taiwanese public servants who have Chinese citizenship should be fired and investigated.

  Third, the Public Officials Election and Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法) should be amended. Legislators-at-large should be elected from party lists and at the same time, legislation should be proposed to make it possible to recall legislators-at-large through party ticket ballots.

  The new legislation would be comparable to the recall process for constituency-based legislative seats, in which the public can initiate a petition for party ticket recalls that determines the list of legislators-at-large up for recall, modeled on the rules for recalling constituency-based legislators.

  After obtaining a set proportion of party list votes, the legislators in question would be recalled. The by-elections system should be amended so that after political parties nominate their candidates, the public get to vote for them through party votes.

  Fourth, the legislature should amend the system for legislative districts. There are 113 constituencies serving a population of more than 23.68 million. Constituencies should use an average population of 200,000 to re-establish legislative districts. Indigenous legislators should be elected regardless of whether they are plains or highland indigenous people, and it should be done according to a proportional system to avoid unfair electoral situations in which ballots are unequal.

  The public’s ultimate goal for the recall movement is for the government to return to rationality and normalcy, and for the nation to continue moving forward. Safeguarding Taiwan’s survival, and democratic and free environment must serve as the fundamental understanding and responsibility of all political parties.

  Lin Chin-kuo is a sales manager.

  Translated by Tim Smith
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