The Legislature Yuan achieved a new low on Tuesday, difficult as it may be to believe that it can continue to find new depths to sink to. The usual tussles and shoving matches included two female lawmakers in a hair-pulling and slapping contest. Both women ended up in the legislature's medical center afterward and one was later taken to a hospital for further examination.
While the public appears to have grown inured to chaotic nursery-school scenes on the legislative floor, one cannot help but imagine how frustrating it must be to be a president of a country who has to deal with this delinquent behavior on a weekly basis.
If any inspiration were to be drawn from Tuesday's chaotic replays of the previous week's spats, it would be that the country is in desperate need of a new constitution since the current one no longer provides the framework for a functioning democracy.
When Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi ran into strong opposition to his efforts to privatize Japan Post, he decided to dissolve parliament and call new elections. The result was a victory for his Liberal Democratic Party, which now holds a parliamentary majority.
Taiwan's political system is different from that of Japan. The premier does not possesses the authority to initiate a no-confidence vote. Taiwan's system is a semi-presidential one, similar to that of France. So President Chen Shui-bian (
Lawmakers' absurd behavior is all right if the legislature wishes to keep its infamous reputation. But it is disturbing and intolerable that lawmakers seem determined to drag Taiwan's development and national reputation down as well.
There are 12 legislative committees. Dominated by the pan-blues, the committees' sole motivation appears to be an obsession with chipping away at the administration's authority and blocking any of its reform efforts. The worst one in this regard is the Procedure Committee, which on Tuesday rejected the arms-procurement budget for the 30th time, refusing to put it on the legislature's agenda. It also blocked Chen's lists of nominees for the Control Yuan once again.
No matter how much the pan-blue lawmakers try to deny their bias, it is clear that any draft bill or budget proposal that the pan-blue camp is opposed to will never make it out of the Procedure Committee. There is no chance that any of the other committees might have the chance to review the proposals, much less that they get put to a vote on the legislative floor.
There are a number of politicians, both inside and outside the legislature, who are apparently blind to the mass migration of Taiwanese industries to China, to China's military threat, the rising unemployment rate and the plight of people living in flood-prone areas. They cannot see the people because they have their sights locked on the 2008 presidential election.
The complete malfunction on display daily in the legislature has pushed Taiwan's democracy to the edge of a cliff. The lawmakers may enjoy their fistfights, name-calling and food fights, but most people are heartily sick of it all. The emperor Nero has gone down in history as fiddling while Rome burned. Taiwan's legislators will be remembered for their histrionics and sham fights as the nation's economy and future fell to pieces around them.
The gutting of Voice of America (VOA) and Radio Free Asia (RFA) by US President Donald Trump’s administration poses a serious threat to the global voice of freedom, particularly for those living under authoritarian regimes such as China. The US — hailed as the model of liberal democracy — has the moral responsibility to uphold the values it champions. In undermining these institutions, the US risks diminishing its “soft power,” a pivotal pillar of its global influence. VOA Tibetan and RFA Tibetan played an enormous role in promoting the strong image of the US in and outside Tibet. On VOA Tibetan,
Sung Chien-liang (宋建樑), the leader of the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) efforts to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Kun-cheng (李坤城), caused a national outrage and drew diplomatic condemnation on Tuesday after he arrived at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office dressed in a Nazi uniform. Sung performed a Nazi salute and carried a copy of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf as he arrived to be questioned over allegations of signature forgery in the recall petition. The KMT’s response to the incident has shown a striking lack of contrition and decency. Rather than apologizing and distancing itself from Sung’s actions,
US President Trump weighed into the state of America’s semiconductor manufacturing when he declared, “They [Taiwan] stole it from us. They took it from us, and I don’t blame them. I give them credit.” At a prior White House event President Trump hosted TSMC chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家), head of the world’s largest and most advanced chip manufacturer, to announce a commitment to invest US$100 billion in America. The president then shifted his previously critical rhetoric on Taiwan and put off tariffs on its chips. Now we learn that the Trump Administration is conducting a “trade investigation” on semiconductors which
By now, most of Taiwan has heard Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an’s (蔣萬安) threats to initiate a vote of no confidence against the Cabinet. His rationale is that the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP)-led government’s investigation into alleged signature forgery in the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) recall campaign constitutes “political persecution.” I sincerely hope he goes through with it. The opposition currently holds a majority in the Legislative Yuan, so the initiation of a no-confidence motion and its passage should be entirely within reach. If Chiang truly believes that the government is overreaching, abusing its power and targeting political opponents — then
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