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Student leader blasts KMT for calling session after attack
By Alison Hsiao / Staff reporter
A woman places a bouquet of flowers outside the Jiangzicui Station on the Taipei Mass Rapid Transit system’s Bannan Line yesterday for victims of a deadly knife attack that occurred on Wednesday.
Photo: Chen Chih-chu, Taipei Times
Student leader Lin Fei-fan (林飛帆) condemned the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) decision on Thursday to call a legislative extraordinary session to push through controversial bills, such as the cross-strait service trade agreement, while the country was mourning over the Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) killing spree.
The KMT countered by saying Lin was the one taking advantage of the tragedy.
KMT spokesperson Charles Chen (陳以信) yesterday said that the party caucus’ proposal made during cross-party negotiations had nothing to do with the MRT knife attack, calling Lin’s political strategy “the worst example, that destroys Taiwan’s mature society.”
The cross-party negotiations over whether to call an extraordinary session or an extension finally came to a conclusion on Thursday after several failed attempts, with the ruling party’s motion for an extraordinary session gaining the upper hand.
KMT caucus whip Lin Hung-chih (林鴻池) said the extraordinary session, scheduled to commence on June 16 and last for three weeks, is to review and approve the nominations made by President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) for the Control Yuan and the Examination Yuan.
He added that other main bills would also be considered in the extraordinary session, such as the free economic pilot zone special draft bill, the cross-strait agreements oversight bill and the cross-strait service trade agreement.
Democratic Progressive Party caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) said that the opposition would not let the KMT have its way easily.
The Taiwan March, in which Lin is a leading member, made a public statement on Thursday night denouncing the KMT’s proposal to call a extraordinary legislative session in the middle of next month, as opposed to the opposition’s call for an extension of the current session.
Lin called the KMT’s attempt to pass the service pact “shameless,” especially when it was “proposed when society is focusing on and mourning over the MRT attack.”
“Together with [former KMT legislator] Chiu Yi’s (邱毅) attempt to link the suspect’s deed with the student movement and KMT Legislator Alex Tsai (蔡正元) [who proposed to amend the Mass Rapid Transit Act (大眾捷運法) to penalize those who ‘interrupt’ the operations of the MRT system with up to three years in prison], we see how the Ma administration is manipulating the public’s fear and sorrow to repress social movements,” Lin said.
The group also criticized the KMT’s “normalization of the extraordinary session,” accusing the party of calling an increasing number of extraordinary sessions over the past legislative sessions.
“Extraordinary sessions are an extraordinary mechanism for dealing with critical events, rather than for “smuggling bills,” as the bills could bypass close deliberation in an extraordinary session,” it said.
Chen said that in an extraordinary session, “the important bills can be focused upon” and therefore it is “more efficient than an extension of the legislative session.”
He added that the DPP’s call for an extension is a “stalling strategy, with its real aim being obstructing the passage of the bills, a move that makes the DDP a real perpetrator of what Chen Wei-ting (陳為廷), also a member of Taiwan March, called ‘fiddling with the procedures.’”
source: Taipei Times
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