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Referendum is a needed tool for our
democracy
By Liu Ching-yi and Lai Chung-chiang 劉靜怡，賴中強
Saturday, Jun 05, 2010, Page 8
On Thursday, the Cabinet’s Referendum Review Committee
rejected a referendum proposal on an economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA).
After some media outlets and members of the public had directed strong attacks
against a referendum, many members of the Referendum Review Committee also
raised doubts over the issue, resulting in the expectation by many that the
proposal would be rejected.
However, such a referendum would be very significant for Taiwan’s democracy for
the following reasons: An ECFA will not only influence trade and economic
issues, it will also affect national sovereignty, labor, gender, environmental
and public health issues. Putting the pact to a referendum would make relevant
information more transparent and encourage the public to think carefully about
it. According to the Referendum Act (公民投票法), once a referendum has been
announced, both those who proposed it and those who oppose it can establish
their own offices to promote their views. In addition, the Central Election
Commission is required to hold at least five information meetings or debates on
the issue on national free-to-air television stations. This makes it clear that
staging a referendum is not simply a matter of voting; but, more importantly, it
is an important democratic process that will encourage the exchange and review
of ideas and opinions.
Especially worthy of attention is the fact that one of the main disputes over
the ECFA policy is that government information has not been transparent. If an
ECFA referendum were passed at a later stage, the government would have to
release more information to help the public make a well-informed and rational
decision. However, as the referendum proposal was turned down, the government
will be able to continue to make major decisions without having to follow the
principles of openness and transparency.
An important procedural point to be remembered is that the democratic legitimacy
of the Referendum Review Committee is very weak because all of its members are
appointed without legislative approval. The idea of allowing such an
organization to decide whether or not a proposal for a direct democracy
procedure is valid is dubious at best and could well be in breach of the
Constitution. Given the current system, the decisions made by the Referendum
Review Committee should aspire to a higher degree of objectivity by following
the example of the Council of Grand Justices, which issues reasons for their
decisions that are signed by the justices supporting the decision.
In addition, the Referendum Review Committee should allow those members who do
not agree with a decision to issue a dissenting opinion. By publicizing both
supporting and dissenting opinions, the committee would be held to a higher
level of accountability.
For these reasons, we believe an ECFA referendum would be of great significance
for democratic deliberation and implementation in that it would help Taiwanese
consider future prospects for cross-strait relations. An ECFA referendum cannot
possibly hurt Taiwan’s democracy. Since the Referendum Review Committee, a body
lacking in democratic legitimacy, rejected the proposal, it will lead to further
political division and make it harder to encourage the public to deal rationally
with China. The people should have a final say on which policies they think will
benefit them most. The true value of democracy lies in the fact that decisions
by the government must not be allowed to replace decisions made by the public.
Liu Ching-yi is an executive board member of the Taiwan
Association for Human Rights. Lai Chung-chiang is an executive board member of
the Platform for the Defense of Democracy.
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