Thu, Aug 12, 2004 page3

• Lawmakers disrupt legislative session

  MORNING MADNESS Chaos reigned in the legislature's extra session yesterday, causing Premier Yu Shyi-kun to postpone delivering his budget report till the afternoon

  • By Debby Wu / STAFF REPORTER
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  Despite heated outbursts by some lawmakers, Premier Yu Shyi-kun yesterday managed to report to the legislature on the extra budget for the NT$500 billion 10 key infrastructure projects and relief action regarding damage caused by Tropical Storm Mindulle.

  He was also able to accept interpellations about the special budget for the infrastructure projects, although some lawmakers who were unhappy with the failure to list their own agendas in the extra session disrupted proceedings.

  

  In order to place proposed bills on the agenda, some legislators from the opposition parties yesterday try to interrupt the first day of the two-week legislative special session by creating an uproar to mobilize their supporters.

  PHOTO: GEORGE TSORNG, TAIPEI TIMES

  As far as the infrastructure projects are concerned, Yu said in his report that the Executive Yuan was preparing NT$36.5 billion this year for sub-projects under the "third-generation highway" and the "mass rapid transit systems in Northern, Central and Southern Taiwan."

  Yu said that the Executive Yuan was preparing an extra budget of NT5.7 billion for damage relief, with NT$4.6 billion coming from interest generated from the China Steel Corporation's shares, and the rest from the unspent budget left from last year.

  After Yu's report, the extra budget plans will first be reviewed in the related committees in the next few days before being voted on in the sitting.

  Yu then got into an argument with Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Chi Kuo-tung (紀國棟) about the Executive Yuan's failure to arrange a special budget for major projects, such as the Guggenheim Museum.

  Cabinet Spokesman Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) later yesterday said although the Cabinet did not earmark a special budget for the museum project next year, it will make the budget request in 2005 to allay opposition parties' anger towards the Cabinet's failure to subsidize the museum project.

  Yu blamed this failure on the Special Statute for Increasing Investment in Public Construction (擴大公共建設投資特別條例) and said it was the pan-blue camp that made it more difficult to prepare budgets, since the statute stipulated the government offer alternatives to major projects.

  Deputy Legislative Speaker Chiang Pin-kung (江丙坤), who served as chairman of the interpellation session, corrected Yu by saying the regulations in fact stemmed from the Budget Law (預算法). The statute did not originate from the pan-blue camp's version, he said, but from the mutual efforts of himself and the Cabinet-level Council for Economic Planning and Development.

  Chiang spoke up again later to suggest the Executive Yuan made it clear that even though the government did not prepare a budget for certain projects this year, it did not mean the government would not do so in the future.

  Although the extra session began as planned with Yu's report, some lawmakers still questioned the necessity of the extra session.

  "During the last regular session, over half the times when lawmakers were supposed to participate in committee meetings, they were absent and forced the meetings to abort due to insufficient numbers," Taiwan Solidarity Union's Cheng Cheng-lung (程振隆) said. He added that the extra session would not have been necessary if the lawmakers fulfilled their duties during the regular session.

  Cheng pointed out that the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators made up one third of the legislature, and there would not have been aborted meetings if the DPP legislators were diligent.

  Yu was originally scheduled to report on the extra budget plans in the morning, but he only managed to do so in the afternoon due to chaos on the floor in the morning.

  Some KMT legislators led by Liu Cheng-hung (劉政鴻) were trying to get laws related to the old farmers' rights, including the Farmers' Retirement Statute, to be listed as an extra session agenda, while some People First Party (PFP) legislators, led by Fu Kun-chi (傅崑萁), were shouting at Yu and demanded construction on the Suao-Hualien Freeway to resume.

  Two groups managed to prevent Yu from giving his report by occupying the podium for the entire morning, but they finally backed off at noon, and Yu was able to give his report in the afternoon.

  Additional reporting by Ko Shu-ling
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