Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators yesterday accused President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) of overstepping his power by requiring top officials from the five branches of government to report to him.
The Presidential Office said Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄), Examination Yuan President John Kuan (關中), Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平), Judicial Yuan President Lai In-jaw (賴英照) and Control Yuan President Wang Chien-shien would meet Ma on May 5.
Ma arranged the meeting to strengthen the government’s “united image” and promote greater interaction and exchange of ideas, the office said.
The Presidential Office said the president had proposed meeting the officials periodically in informal settings.
Ma meets Vice President Vincent Siew (蕭萬長), Liu, Wang and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Wu Poh-hsiung (吳伯雄) for lunch every Monday to discuss government policies.
DPP Legislator Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) told reporters yesterday that it was not right to require the heads of the five yuan to report to the president because the five branches operate independently.
Ker said Ma was doing everything he could to increase his power, including allegedly proposing to take over the chairmanship of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), opposing a proposal for an inter-party legislative task force to monitor cross-strait developments and having the KMT caucus approve a preliminary review of a law to allow the president to establish an unspecified number of committees under the Presidential Office.
“Ma wants to be a superpower politician ... which is the authoritarian tradition of his KMT,” Ker said.
DPP Legislator Lee Chun-yi (李俊毅) said requiring the heads of the branches of government to meet the president was unconstitutional because they should not be subject to presidential interference. The president should summon the heads of the five yuan only for cross-yuan negotiations, he said.
KMT Legislator Wu Yu-sheng (吳育昇) dismissed the criticism.
“What’s unconstitutional about the president, in the run-up to his one-year anniversary in office, meeting with the heads of the five yuan and deliberating over state affairs?” he asked.
It is positive for the president to meet the heads of the five yuan to discuss matters such as administrative and judicial reform, he said.
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