Despite solid support among legislators for the four so-called "sunshine" political reform laws, the Legislative Yuan appears unlikely to pass any such legislation before the new president is inaugurated in May.
Insiders said many lawmakers are too busy politicking in the interest of forming alliances and unifying their own parties.
"The current focus for many lawmakers is how to make political alliances with other party members," said DPP legislator Lin Cho-shui (
Asked if the legislative chamber could resemble a "ghost town" in the meantime, Lin said: "It's a very likely scenario."
The four so-called "sunshine laws" include the Political Party Law (
The passage of these laws had been a campaign promise of KMT presidential candidate Lien Chan (
Lawmakers during the last session also vowed that the laws would be given priority during the current session.
But following the victory of DPP presidential candidate Chen Shui-bian (
"KMT lawmakers are not in the mood to deal with these bills," Lin said.
Lee Weng-chung (
"Nobody cares about these issues currently," Lee said, admitting that forming cross-party alliances is what many lawmakers from different political stripes are most concerned with now.
"Things won't become clear until the composition of the new Cabinet is confirmed and until the reshuffling of power within the Legislative Yuan becomes reality," he added.
Lawmakers from the KMT, the DPP as well as the newly formed People First Party have been seeking to form alliances, with insiders saying that the slim majority held by the KMT could easily evaporate.
Lee said Chen Shui-bian, who has vowed to fight against "black gold" politics, would prioritize the bills, adding that the DPP caucus would push for the passage of these political reform laws once the "timing was better."
He also said that KMT legislators -- in the face of requests from both inside the party and out -- "would not go so far as to oppose these bills."
KMT legislators denied Lin's claim that they were not keen on the reform-related bills.
"These claims are wrong," said KMT legislator Eugene YC Jao (
"After we [referring to some 20 KMT legislators] set up a subgroup called the `Reform Association' (
But the DPP's Lin said that until the KMT reached a consensus on how to accelerate its internal reforms, he wondered how KMT legislators, with disparate views on these bills, could be united to support them.
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