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EDITORIAL: TSU
highlights referendum absurdity
Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) Chairman Huang Kun-huei (黃昆輝) is determined to
keep up his campaign to show the Referendum Review Committee for what it really
is — a government roadblock to popular action.
Since the committee rejected three attempts by the TSU to call a referendum on
the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) because it deemed the
question the party posed — “Do you agree that the government should sign an ECFA
with China?” — inconsistent with the functions of a referendum, the TSU has
launched a fourth attempt, this time with the aim of abolishing the committee
itself.
“[The committee] has become a tool for the ruling party to block citizens from
expressing their views through referendums — it should be abolished,” Huang
said, adding that according to the Referendum Act (公民投票法), the committee’s
function was to assist in holding referendums and nothing else.
It is easy to see where this referendum proposal will wind up — in the trash
heap next to all the TSU’s other proposals when the committee refuses to grant
permission for a second-phase review.
However, showing up with 94,000 signatures backing a referendum on abolishing
the committee puts the spotlight on the organization that has been used by the
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) from its inception to block people’s legitimate
desire for a voice in Taiwan’s affairs.
Thanks to KMT lawmakers, the Referendum Act was written with almost impossibly
high thresholds. Gathering enough signatures for the first phase of the
referendum review is a daunting task: The initiator must collect valid
signatures from 0.5 percent of the electorate in the most recent presidential
election — currently 86,000 people. If that is possible — in the TSU’s case it
does not seem to be a problem — the initiator can submit a referendum proposal
to the Referendum Review Committee, which habitually blocks those questions that
do not conform to the wishes of the KMT, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), his
pro-China cohorts and their shadowy benefactors in Beijing.
On the off chance that the committee accepts the TSU’s proposal and allows it to
move on to the second-phase review, the party would then have to collect
signatures from 5 percent of the electorate. Only on completion of the second
phase can the referendum question be put to a public poll, in which it has to
gain more than 50 percent support from 50 percent of the population to pass.
Bureaucratic roadblocks and anti-referendum political appointees seem hell-bent
on making sure referendums are never held, and if they are, that the question is
never approved, especially with regards to any issue that touches on
cross-strait relations.
It is an absurd situation that Huang and the TSU are loath to accept sitting
down.
Their campaign for a referendum is reminiscent of Taiwan’s previous annual
campaigns to gain UN status, which was blocked each year for 14 years by China
and its UN allies. Although that campaign, which was pursued aggressively under
the administrations of former presidents Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) and Chen Shui-bian
(陳水扁), ultimately failed to gain Taiwan entry into the world body, it did
wonders in pointing out the absurdity of the global body’s refusal to recognize
a sovereign nation of 23 million people.
Ma killed Taiwan’s chances of gaining UN recognition by refusing to continue the
annual quest. However, the TSU is determined to ensure Ma is not given carte
blanche to block all attempts to hold referendums without vocal public
opposition.
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