Taipei Times: After you met with the president-elect on Wednesday, you made public the predicament now faced by the DPP in the Legislative Yuan. Can you elaborate?
Shih Ming-teh (
Among the 225 seats in the legislature, the DPP only holds 71 seats. After May 21 (when three current DPP legislators take up Cabinet posts), the DPP will have only 68 seats.
PHOTO: CHIANG YING-YING, TAIPEI TIMES
The KMT currently holds 116, but it may lose a few more later. In other words, the DPP has less than one-third of the seats in the legislature. So what are the likely repercussions? Your budget proposals will be cut into a complete mess and your bills will be altered beyond recognition.
The final result is that the 'opposition party' [the KMT] will dominate policy enactment, pushing Chen Shui-bian (
This is a very precarious scenario.
Worse yet, if the KMT, PFP and New Party decide to form a strong opposition camp after their presidential election feuding fades away, their joint efforts could paralyze the central government.
So I think it's childish for some in the DPP camp to oppose the idea of establishing a cross-party alliance that would help tip the legislative scales in their favor.
And if you chose to cooperate with the KMT, the KMT will dominate the whole situation for the sake of its own interests. So it's not a preferred option.
So what Chen faces here in the Legislature Yuan is worse than what he faced in the Taipei City Council [as mayor between 1994 and 1998].
After all, the Taipei City Council has limited power, whereas the Legislative Yuan can do virtually anything it wants to except giving birth to a baby. It's just like the British parliament.
TT: Hasn't the idea of a cross-party alliance drawn criticism?
Shih: I have to admit that this [building an alliance] has been a very onerous task, and I am not sure if it's going to succeed.
The first factor involves what kind of resources you can use to persuade others to join.
Second, the DPP itself hasn't been clear on whether to push for the alliance. Some DPP legislators have failed to think things through clearly.
Allow me to make this one candid statement. Some lawmakers have simply not done their homework to comprehend these big questions.
We haven't reached any consensus within the DPP yet, and I don't know what other difficulties may lie ahead. But I think the internal consensus should take shape gradually. Because without this alliance, it will be difficult for Chen's administration to operate smoothly.
TT: Chen approached you several times after he was elected to express his hope that you would take the lead to push for the alliance. Some said his high-profile visit to you on Wednesday meant that he was on your side. Do you think the meeting was conducive in forging an internal consensus?
Shih: I have told the DPP chairman as well as A-bian one thing: If you fail to smooth over internal discord, I am not going to do the job. As long as the discord exists, I will not carry out the task.
After all, this is a job whose prospect of success is uncertain. Chen and the DPP chairman are the ones who should handle the internal discord. I am not ready to deal with that.
TT: But you are not even a member of the nine-person panel in the DPP legislative caucus set up to deal with related issues.
Shih: Sure. They [DPP legislative caucus leaders] actually invited me to join, but I refused. I said why should I quarrel with you guys here?
I don't need to join. You want me to handle an outside task, and you also want me to deal with internal affairs? I am not going to do that.
The DPP caucus convener just came over for a visit, and I told him I would not join any such panel discussions. If internal debate is not handled well, I am not going to make any further moves.
TT: You've mentioned forming a cross-party alliance, but what are the exact details? Does it include pushing for the re-election of the legislative speaker?
Shih: Not exactly. But of course, this is one of the options.
After all, there is no doubt about the importance of the speakership. The speaker can be more important than 50 legislators.
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