Tue, Apr 10, 2007 page4

• Analysis: Charter debate set to impinge on polls

  OPEN FOR TALKS Despite the high-threshold required to amend the Constitution, many private groups are still pushing the idea in the run-up to two crucial elections

  • By Ko Shu-ling / STAFF REPORTER
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  Constitutional reform is likely to become an important topic for debate in the run-up to the legislative and presidential elections as political parties and private groups gear up to place the issue on the agenda.

  Despite the high threshold for constitutional amendment, Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋), director of the now disbanded Constitutional Re-engineering Office at the Presidential Office, said that constitutional reform would be an issue during the election campaigns because it is one of the pressing problems facing the country.

  Clear position

  

  Allen Houng, center, convener of the Constitutional Reform Alliance, speaks at a press conference on April 2 to say that one-quarter of legislators had given their approval to a new privately drafted constitution, and that the new version could be presented to the legislature's Procedure Committee. At right is Democratic Progressive Party acting chairman Chai Trong-rong, and at left is Chen Man-li, president of the Homemakers Union and Foundation.

  PHOTO: LIAO CHEN-HUEI, TAIPEI TIMES

  "The position of the Presidential Office is clear: we will continue to push the campaign, while we let the private sector take the lead," he said. "The president doesn't have a preference for any version, although he has seen all of them. Our role is simply to promote constitutional education and related activities."

  Three quarters of legislators must be present at the plenary legislative meeting, of whom three quarters must consent for a proposal to pass, pending a public referendum.

  It was not surprising therefore that the legislature's Procedure Committee last Tuesday struck down the first constitutional draft proposed by a private group to receive the endorsement of several lawmakers.

  Allen Houng (洪裕宏), convener of the Constitutional Reform Alliance, said they were disappointed at the legislature's boycott of the proposal, which represents the voices of 52 private groups.

  Houng said that they would switch their lobbying efforts to political leaders, including the Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP) four presidential hopefuls, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential aspirant Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平).

  Unnecessary

  Ma has made it clear he believes constitutional reform is unnecessary as the Constitution was amended in 2005. Wang, however, has hinted that he favors a parliamentary system.

  Houng said that if the legislature were to continue to impede their efforts, their last resort would be to ask President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) to initiate a referendum on their constitutional draft.

  "We cannot launch a revolution, but we have several options at our disposal to help us reach our goal," he said.

  Circumventing the legislature to hold a referendum would violate the Referendum Law (公投法), Houng said, but it would conform to the spirit of the Constitution to let the people exercise their right to decide, and such a right should include initiating laws and a new constitution.

  Contrary to Houng's group, the Taiwan Thinktank has chosen to adopt a less aggressive approach.

  Chen Ming-tong (陳明通), who penned the think tank's "second republic" constitution, said he would not take the initiative in seeking endorsement from legislators.

  Job done

  "I've done my job by offering the Taiwanese a different option," he said. "If any lawmaker or political party is interested in my proposal and wants to take it to the legislature for approval then they are welcome."

  Chen Ming-tong said he realized the difficulty of passing constitutional amendments, which require public consensus and must develop from the bottom up.

  "It is pointless to collect sufficient signatures if the legislature still lacks consensus," he said.

  Chen Ming-tong's view was echoed by convener of the New Constitution Workshop Lee Hung-hsi (李鴻禧). His organization has proposed a draft constitution, dubbed the "Taiwan Constitution."

  Lee Hung-hsi said the group's proposal would serve as a reference for those interested in constitutional overhaul and that his group, made up of legal experts, did not have any concrete plans to implement their idea.

  "Writing a new constitution is a big social and political activity," said Lee, who supervised President Chen when the president studied law at National Taiwan University.

  Not finalized

  While the DPP has not yet finalized its own version, its ally the Taiwan Solidarity Union will launch a signature drive to support its proposal, scheduled to be made public next week at the earliest.

  Chang Yi-shan (張益贍), director of DPP's Policy Department, said it was ready to pass a party version at any minute, as soon as the opposition-controlled legislature was willing to take up the issue.

  Chang said they have prepared six different versions for the party's Central Executive Committee to debate.

  They include changing the national title to Republic of Taiwan, retaining the national title but changing the national boundaries and retaining the national title but specifying that the referendum of the proposed constitutional amendment would be held in the Taiwan area.
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