Former president Lee Teng-hui (
Addressing a forum held by the think tank Taiwan Advocates to promote the creation of a new constitution, Lee said that the people of Taiwan need to shrug off the mentality of being a "long-term laborer" after being ruled by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) for half a century, and take up the responsibility of being the master of their own country.
Lee told a large group of supporters that the biggest problem with the current ROC Constitution was that it had been created in China and was not designed to fit the needs of Taiwan.
"Although Taiwan has experienced many democratic transitions in the past decade and the referendum concept has become part of mainstream public opinion, Taiwanese still need to strengthen their determination to be the host in their own country.
"Therefore, we have to stand up bravely to make rational and practical plans to create our own constitution and express our own opinions to decide this country's policies through the referendum. We will no longer be manipulated by those opposing voices telling us to give up our own rights," Lee said.
Lee also accused the opposition camp, led by the KMT and its splinter group, the People First Party, of obstructing the democratic initiatives in Taiwan, which he said were a result of the former authoritarian rulers' disdain for the Taiwanese people and their skepticism that Taiwanese can rule their own country.
He said that the pan-blue alliance's opposition to Taiwan's first referendum reflected its long-term aversion to further democratization. Lee said this was also reflected in their resistance to public presidential elections in 1994.
Singling out Taipei City Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), who opposed the direct presidential election in 1994 and is now one of the strongest opponents of the government's referendum proposition, Lee said the blue camp's opposition to the referendum was a repetition of their behavior in 1994, when they insisted that the president be elected through a representative system, rather than by the people.
Lee said that Taiwan faces four major problems: the national identity issue; an incomplete nation, which could be corrected by rewriting the Constitution; the increasing interactions brought about by cross-Strait economic activities, which, if not handled properly, could drag down Taiwan's competitiveness; and the security issue across the Taiwan Strait.
He said the people of Taiwan needed to use their own wisdom to ensure that their right to govern themselves is not undermined by foreign influences and domestic opposition.
Lee said the US and France's opposition to Taiwan's referendum served only their own interests, in addition to being a sell-out of democracy.
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