20100815 Protesters rail against ‘blindness’

Protesters rail against ‘blindness’

FAULTY PROCESS: The CCW led demonstrators to the legislature and made symbolic attacks on the legislature’s inefficiency and the rush to pass the ECFA

By Loa Iok-sin
Staff Reporter
Sunday, Aug 15, 2010, Page 3

A man covering one eye with a picture of a clam protests against the Legislative Yuan’s inefficiency and its rushed review of the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement in Taipei yesterday.

PHOTO: FANG PIN-CHAO, TAIPEI TIMES

Covering one eye with a picture of a clam while holding umbrellas, almost 100 people mobilized by the Citizens Congress Watch (CCW) yesterday marched on the street and staged a rally in front of the legislature to protest lawmakers’ inefficiency and their rushed review of the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA).

“The legislative speaker is not neutral,” CCW executive director Ho Tsung-hsun (何宗勳) shouted through a loudspeaker after the parade departed from Liberty Square.

“Give my money back,” the crowd answered.

“The ECFA was not properly reviewed,” he shouted again.

“Give my money back!” the crowd again responded.

Ho explained that the clam was a representation of a Taiwanese saying that someone had made a bad choice because his or her eyes had been blinded by clams.

“Voters elected such terrible lawmakers because they were blindfolded when casting their ballots,” Ho said.

The umbrellas, on the other hand, were to symbolize the sun’s rays being blocked by dark clouds from shining into the legislature, he said.

“Although the government promised that it would put the ECFA under legislative review, it took the legislature only six minutes during a provisional session earlier last month to pass such a major agreement that could have a huge impact on Taiwan’s future,” CCW chairman Ku Chung-hwa (顧忠華) said. “It’s also unthinkable that such an agreement would be handled during an extra session of the legislature.”

Ku said that a provisional session should only be called when there is an emergency that has to be taken care of outside of the legislature’s regular sessions.

He panned lawmakers over inefficiency during regular sessions and for trying to rush bills through during provisional sessions.

“We’ve only had 13 provisional sessions in history, but we’ll have had two this summer if we include the one set for next week,” Ku said. “We’d like to urge lawmakers to review bills more seriously during the coming extra session.”

The march ended peacefully after the demonstrators reached the Legislative Yuan and made a symbolic gesture to clear away black balloons representing the dark clouds.

The Legislative Yuan is scheduled to hold its second provisional ­session on Tuesday, which will last for two weeks. The first provisional legislative meeting in the current summer recess ended last month amid clashes between ­Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Democratic Progressive Party lawmakers because of a disagreement on the ECFA review process.