The blue camp's democratic problem

 

The brouhaha in the Legislative Yuan on Wednesday during the review of the proposed referendum law, complete with name-calling, flag-waving and the melodramatic passing out of DPP lawmaker Hsu Jung-shu, shows exactly how much some of the lawmakers of this country really care about popular will -- which is not much at all.

 

As a country that holds elections within abnormally short intervals, people have become used to seeing politicians speaking about their respect for the "popular will" to the point of tears. Next time any legislator tries to gain sympathy votes with this act, first check out whether he or she has lived up to those words during Wednesday's review session.

 

The bill, proposed by DPP lawmaker Trong Chai which caused all the trouble simply makes it possible for the people of this country to directly vote on important national policies through referendums.

 

The fear of the PFP and KMT lawmakers, which eventually successfully blocked review of the bill with their majority in the Home and Nations Committee, was that the said bill, if enacted, would be used to change the name, national flag or national anthem of this country or, to put it in their own words, "to accomplish Taiwan independence."

 

Unfortunately, there are several major problems with this line of reasoning. First of all, the independent sovereignty of this country is already a fact beyond dispute. So, unless they are delusional enough to think that Taiwan is part of China and they are lawmakers of the PRC, the issue of Taiwan independence is really moot.

 

Perhaps they simply have a distaste for the name "Taiwan," the name they suspect that the pan-green is plotting to adopt for this country once the said proposed law is enacted. Perhaps we should feel sorry for people so conflicted they can't bear to hear the name of the place where they live. Be that as it may, if they have any respect for the democratic process, they should surely only approve of a law that deepens democracy by allowing people a more direct say in their own affairs.

 

And with this in mind, if a majority of people did vote in a referendum to change the name, national flag or national anthem, how dare these lawmakers stand in the way of the people's clearly expressed will. But it goes beyond this. It is not just a matter of democratic principle but people's constitutional right. Article 17 of the Constitution, which states that "The people shall have the right of election, recall, initiative and referendum." The former refers to the right of the people, upon obtaining a sufficient number of endorsements, to initiate and submit bill for plebiscites. The latter refers to the right of the people to approve or reject bills proposed by the Legislative Yuan through plebiscites.

 

We could also point out that the version of the bill being reviewed had been seriously watered down, specifically prohibiting voting on "national orientation issues," such as such as the country's boundaries, formal title and national anthem. Yet, the opposition lawmakers continue to claim that the passage of the bill would mean the end of the "ROC." Basically there is no logic to this behavior and we can only hope that people will show their disapproval of such stupidity at the polls.

 

Other reasons cited by the opposition lawmakers included concerns on the part of the US and the objections of China. In terms of former, since when have the typically anti-American opposition lawmakers cared about the attitude of the US? In fact, it was during that very same review session that a PFP lawmaker shouted "long live Iraq." As for the latter reason, perhaps they are forgetting that they are still ROC lawmakers, not yet the PRC functionaries they so earnestly desire to become.

 

 

Ketagalan Academy says its purpose is democracy

 

By Lin Chieh-yu

STAFF REPORTER

 

The head of the DPP's newly established talent training institute, the Ketagalan Academy, said yesterday that the academy is more than just a political party school and is designed to further the nation's democracy.

 

"The Ketagalan Academy is totally different from the KMT's National Research Institute, which is a school to enhance the ideology of their party members," said Ketagalan Academy superintendent Chen Shih-meng, who is also a former secretary-general to the president.

 

"Compared with the KMT's institute, there is a clear line between our academy and the DPP," he said.

 

"The academy's purpose and budget ... have no relationship with the DPP," Chen told reporters.

 

He said its only goal is to promote democracy.

 

The academy, which will be formally launched tomorrow, is the brainchild of President Chen Shui-bian, who expects the institute to nurture politically adept officials for roles in the DPP administration.

 

Campaign funds

 

Chen Shih-meng said that funding for the academy comes from neither the DPP nor the government, but comes from surplus money from President Chen's campaign.

 

According to Chen Shih-meng, President Chen has attributed his success to late DPP chairman Huang Hsin-chieh and the president hopes the institute can further Huang's ideals.

 

However, opposition politicians and some academics said that, with the academy, the DPP appears to be forcing senior civil servants to join the party. They say the move violates the principle of allowing government officials to be politically neutral.

 

Moreover, some high-ranking officials, including those with the Government Information Office and Ministry of National Defense, have applied to be lecturers for the academy's first session, which will last two months.

 

Though students at the academy are predominantly government officials and DPP supporters, Chen Shih-meng said the institute does not require pupils to join the party.

 

Focus on democracy

 

"The KMT's institute requires all members to firmly accept the ideology of reunification and the `one China' principle," Chen said. "But our academy will only advocate the value of Taiwan's democratic achievements, instead of reviewing the political stance of its members."

 

"At first, we may focus on nurturing leaders from all fields, but we will also develop more inclusive sessions to encourage the participation of the public," he said.

 

The academy's first session begins tomorrow and is expected to include 40 participants.

 

Vice Minister of National Defense Lin Chong-Pin and National Security Bureau Director-General Tsai Chao-ming both rejected invitations by the academy to serve as teachers at the session due to public anger over having military officials and intelligence agents playing a role in the party's institute.

 

 

Pan-blue camp shuts down talks

 

PARTISAN SPLIT: The KMT and PFP said they won't take part in cross-party discussions with the DPP and TSU due to their anger over the handling of a committee meeting

 

By Tsai Ting-I

STAFF REPORTER

 

With the debate raging between the pan-blue and pan-green camps over the draft referendum law, the KMT and PFP decided to shut down any cross-party negotiations with the DPP and TSU yesterday.

 

The blue-camp parties plan to present TSU lawmaker Chen Chien-ming, who chaired the Home and Nation Committee on Monday and Wednesday, to the legislature's Discipline Committee for punishment over what they said was his inappropriate handling of meeting procedures.

 

The parties' decision will postpone the passage of other bills, such as the Cabinet's NT$70 billion job-creation program, in the legislature.

The Home and Nation Committee started to review DPP Legislator Trong Chai's draft referendum law on Monday. The pan-blue camp, which says the bill will upset China, exploited a procedural technicality on Monday to request that the meeting be adjourned.

 

Chen, as chairman of the committee meeting, refused to acknowledge the pan-blue legislators' suggestion to end the meeting. The meeting was adjourned at 11:30pm on Wednesday.

 

According to the rules for such meetings, the meeting chairman is required to handle any request to end the meeting right after legislators submit their request.

 

Angered with Chen's performance, the KMT and PFP held a joint press conference yesterday morning.

 

KMT legislative leader Liu Cheng-hung said that the performance by Chen and DPP legislators was ridiculous.

 

"Chen's performance ... was a terrible example. I have never experienced anybody holding a meeting in such a fashion since I came to the Legislative Yuan in 1992," Liu said in the press conference.

 

"We decided to halt any cross-party negotiation for bills in the legislature until the DPP provides a reasonable explanation," Liu said.

 

At Wednesday night's meeting, seven DPP legislators voted for presenting the draft proposal for further discussion, which upset the two blue-camp parties.

 

PFP legislative whip Chung Shao-ho said his party would also boycott cross-party negotiations.

 

DPP legislative caucus leader Chen Chi-mai criticized the blue-camp for halting negotiations.

 

Chen said the move was designed to skirt review of the bill on political party assets, which was scheduled for yesterday afternoon. The bill is widely seen as a threat to the KMT.

 

Chen said other bills such as the Cabinet's budget still need review .

 

"They had successfully boycotted the draft proposal's review. I don't understand why they want to halt the negotiation," Chen said.

 

 

Economics experts call for reconciliation

 

CNA , TAIPEI

 

Economists called on the ruling and opposition parties Wednesday to reconcile and begin working together to promote Taiwan's economic development.

 

In a seminar on the direction of future economic development of Taiwan and related challenges, Chiang Ping-kun, vice president of the Legislative Yuan and the founder of several KMT think tanks, said that Taiwan faces strong international competition rising from globalization.

 

To cope with the situation, Taiwan must upgrade its manufacturing industry, stimulate private investment, maintain a higher technological level than that of China, stabilize domestic political situations and cross-strait relations and also actively promote financial and judicial reform, he said.

 

All of this could only be achieved through the reconciliation of political parties, which must set aside party interests and pursue the national interest as a whole, Chiang said.

 

All political parties should act as if they were a ruling party in discussing and dealing with national affairs, because they all have the ability to rule after the 2004 presidential election, Chiang suggested.

 

For his part, Chen Po-chih, chairman of Taiwan Thinktank, said that globalization is an international trend and the people of Taiwan should unite and pool together their resources to sharpen the competitiveness of the nation.

 

Doctors slam WHO for failures

 

UNHEALTHY: Medical professionals said that the World Health Organization's treatment of Taiwan is bad medicine and violates the body's own consititution

 

By Melody Chen

STAFF REPORTER

 

Members of Taiwan's medical profession have issued a strong protest to the World Health Organization (WHO) for its isolation of Taiwan during the worldwide outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS).

 

Yesterday, the Foundation of Medical Professionals Alliance in Taiwan (FMPAT), a private group, sent a letter to the WHO accusing the UN body of seriously breaching its own constitution in is handling Taiwan's SARS epidemic.

 

FMPAT president Wu Shih-min said in a press conference that the WHO's repeated failures to offer Taiwan medical aid have caused huge losses to the health and lives of this country's people.

 

"The WHO constitution says that, `The enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health is one of the fundamental rights of every human being without distinction of race, religion, political belief, economic or social condition,'" Wu said.

 

The Center for Disease Control (CDC) reported this country's first SARS cases to the WHO on March 14, but the organization did not include Taiwan amongst the SARS infected areas listed on its Web site until March 18, FMPAT's letter said.

 

"Taiwan is not part of China. But the WHO's Web site repeatedly listed Taiwan as a province of China. The behavior shows the organization's disrespect for Taiwanese people," the letter said.

 

In support of its case, the foundation quoted a Central News Agency report from Geneva in which one high-ranking WHO official clearly admitted that the organization's failure to help Taiwan during the SARS outbreak was due to political factors.

 

China's efforts to block Taiwan from entering the WHO has hindered the investigation of the cause of SARS, the letter said.

 

The letter also cited a report in The Washington Post which said the Chinese government had instructed its state-owned Xinhua News Agency to hide the truth about the spread of the disease in China.

 

Such deception by Beijing has endangered the lives of more than 100,000 Taiwanese businessmen based in China, the letter said.

 

But the SARS epidemic is not the foundation's only grievance with the WHO. In 1997, more than 80 Taiwanese children died during an outbreak of the enterovirus.

 

According to the foundation, health authorities here did not obtain any information from the WHO during that epidemic simply because Taiwan is not a member of the world body.

 

Furthermore, after the calamitous 921 earthquake, in which more than 2,000 people died, the WHO neither dispatched rescue teams to Taiwan nor offered any medial aids. The FMPAT charged that was because of China's interference.

 

"During these crises, we strived to seek the WHO's help through all kinds of channels. But the WHO has simply ignored our pleas because Taiwan was not one of its members," Wu said.

 

Yesterday, the foundation made three requests to the WHO and expressed its hope that the organization would make up for its previous neglect of Taiwan by granting the requests.

 

The first request is that the WHO should send experts to Taiwan to help with the SARS outbreak as soon as possible.

 

The second is that the WHO should invite Taiwan to join the SARS conference scheduled to be held in Hong Kong next week.

 

The third is that the WHO should accept Taiwan's application to become a member.

 

Taiwan's current application to become the WHO's observer is humble enough, Wu said. "But if Taiwan can't even become an observer, the government will reconsider whether to directly apply to become a WHO member."

 

Wu Yung-tung, president of the Taiwan Medical Association, said the World Medical Association (WMA) -- an international organization representing physicians -- has already passed a resolution to support Taiwan's bid to enter the WHO.

 

Wu Yung-tung said that the WMA's support demonstrates professional recognition of Taiwan's medical achievements.

 

Chang Chin-un, president of the Taiwan Hospital Association, noted that Hong Kong is a member of the WHO, even though it is not a state.

 

"If Hong Kong can be a WHO member, why can't Taiwan be?" he asked.

 

 

HK uses quarantine against SARS

 

WORRIES: The government has followed Singapore’s lead in closing schools in response to parents’ anxieties over the rapid spread of the new disease

 

AFP AND REUTERS, HONG KONG

 

Hong Kong Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa said the government had invoked a quarantine law not used for decades, and anyone breaking it would be fined or jailed for up to six months.

 

A day after Singapore took similar action, Tung said schools would shut for a week from March 29 to try to contain a rapidly spreading pneumonia that has infected about 1300 in Asia, North America and Europe.

 

Tung said those exposed to the virus must not go to work or school but must go to a clinic every day to be checked and if found to be ill, to be isolated.

 

Eleven people have died in Hong Kong from severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and 370 are infected. The government said the quarantine will affect more than 1600 people.

 

“They must not go to work or to school for 10 days or they will be punished,” Tung said an anxiety grew in the city of seven million and tourists cancelled holidays.

 

Those who flout the orders will be fined up to HK$5000 (US$640) or possibly jailed for up to six months.

 

The SARS outbreak has far killed 10 people in Hong Kong and infected 316 other people, including another 30 cases reported Wednesday, among them two students.

 

A poll conducted by the pressure group Health Power showed nine out of 10 parents fear their children could contract the illness in class and more than seven out of 10 want schools to be closed immediately.”

A teacher washes toy blocks with disinfectant at a childcare center in Singapore yesterday, a day after the government announced it would shut ll schools until April 6 to contain a mysterious pneumonia outbreak that has killed at least 50 people worldwide.