Not one of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) or Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) legislators made it to Citizen Congress Watch’s (CCW) latest list of outstanding lawmakers, the nonprofit organization said at a news conference in Taipei yesterday.
The watchdog attributed the poor performance to KMT lawmakers ranking near the bottom in terms of the average number of proposals submitted, while proposals by TPP lawmakers plummeted more than 60 percent.
The TPP’s short, two-year term for its legislators-at-large could be a factor in the sharp drop in its average number of proposals from 8.6 in the previous legislative session to 2.9 this session, Citizen Congress Watch policy division head Chen Li-yi (陳利益) said.
Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times
The TPP mandates that legislators-at-large should only serve two years to allow more people on the list to rotate in and “gain experience” in the legislature.
The TPP had basically neutralized its own power and abandoned its duty to provide oversight, the organization said.
Although the opposition parties repeatedly extended the legislative session, they did not conduct inquiries, review legislation or propose new bills, Chen said.
The opposition parties are refusing to do the job the people have voted them in for, he said, calling it a disgrace to the nation’s representative system of government.
Citizen Congress Watch director Chang Hung-lin (張宏林) said that several opposition legislators had not taken part in legislative question-and-answer sessions.
Excluding Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) and Deputy Speaker Johnny Chiang (江啟臣) of the KMT and the caucus whips, independent legislator May Chin (高金素梅) came in last in terms of verbal interpellations with a 30 percent rating, Chang said.
The ratings of KMT legislators Ting Hsueh-chung (丁學忠), Chen Yu-jen (陳玉珍), Yu Hao (游顥) and Huang Jen (黃仁) were also below 50 percent, Chang added.
After pushing to extend the legislative session, these lawmakers have “arrogantly” chosen not to attend meetings, “feigning diligence while shirking their duties in reality,” he added.
Citizen Congress Watch legal group convener Liao Chen-chou (廖振洲) said the organization discourages legislators from blindly copying proposals, so proposing more bills does not necessarily translate to higher scores.
KMT Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) and TPP legislators Lin Yi-chun (林憶君) and Liu Shu-pin (劉書彬) did not propose any legislation, Liao said.
Legislators receive NT$200,000 in monthly wages, and failing to propose even one measure or amendment is a betrayal of their constituents’ trust, Liao said.
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