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Opposition asks Ma to
make report
ACCOUNTABILITY: The DPP, PFP and TSU whips said
the time was right for the president to be accountable for his policies and
actions, and to stop avoiding responsibility
By Chris Wang / Staff reporter
Opposition whips yesterday hold a
joint press conference at the legislature to invite President Ma Ying-jeou
present a national report to the legislature and take part in a
question-and-answer session.
Photo: Lin Cheng-kung, Taipei Times
Three opposition caucuses yesterday
invited President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) to deliver an unprecedented national report
to the legislature.
The caucus whips of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), the People First
Party (PFP) and the Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) held a joint press conference
to urge Ma to deliver a national report and take questions from lawmakers in a
question-and--answer session to uphold political accountability.
“The time is ripe for Ma to deliver a report, not only because all opposition
parties support the initiative, but also because it is time for Ma to step
forward and face the challenge of -accountability politics,” DPP whip Ker
Chien-ming (柯建銘) said.
While the Constitution leans toward a semi-presidential political system and
does not require the president to deliver a national report, the Acts Governing
Exercise of Rights of the Legislative Yuan (立法院職權行使法) stipulate that the
president may make such a report to the legislature if a legislative resolution
is reached after a proposal endorsed by one-quarter of lawmakers or more.
It has been a while since Ma became an “invisible president,” becoming known as
the “Facebook president” for choosing to communicate with the public through
online social media, PFP whip Thomas Lee (李桐豪) said.
“Most of all, the president has been inconsistent with his policies before and
after he was re-elected in January,” Lee said, adding that the three parties
began working on their proposal last week.
“If Ma wishs to make his mark and leave a legacy for Taiwan’s political history,
this is the right thing for him to do,” Lee said.
Authority and accountability should go hand in hand in any democracy, TSU whip
Hsu Chung-hsin (許忠信) said.
As president, Ma went beyond the authority conferred by the Constitution by
interfering with the selection of Cabinet members, as well as the formulation
and implementation of many national policies that should have been supervised by
the premier, Hsu said.
“Ma has violated the political system delineated by the Constitution, but he has
not been held accountable for his abuse of power. This is not right,” Hsu said.
“[Delivering a national report] would be a great opportunity to set an example
for accountability politics in Taiwan,” Hsu said.
The recent decision making process and policy formulation — with Ma maneuvering
behind the scenes — has been ridiculous, but Ma was able to evade responsibility
because he is not required to be questioned and monitored by the legislature,
DPP Legislator Wu Ping-jui (吳秉叡) said.
“What we have seen is that Premier Sean Chen has become Ma’s puppet since he
could not make his own decisions on personnel and policy making,” Wu said.
Ma would be setting a great example for Taiwanese politics before the flawed
Constitution is amended, he said.
The three parties hold 46 of the 113 seats in the legislature — the DPP has 40,
while the PFP and the TSU each have three.
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) controls the legislature, with 64 seats.
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