Huang’s selfish politics
Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) caucus whip Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) on Monday night released a live stream on YouTube where he commented on the Constitutional Court’s injunction.
He criticized the injunction papers as being badly written, adding that he intended to invite the justice who penned the papers to a constitutional debate.
Indeed, Huang could show discontent with the injunction, but he should not have skipped the reference part of the papers and challenge the justice to a debate.
He would surely make a spectacle of himself in the legal world because of unsportsmanlike conduct. How could a person who holds a doctorate of law from Cornell University make these outrageous remarks? This is just ridiculous.
I believe that Huang knows better than to debate with a justice over the Constitution. He must have a hidden agenda. Of course, he knows the justice would refuse to debate with him, and therefore, his supporters would attack the justice by saying they chickened out because they could not justify their decision.
Moreover, his supporters might well question the justice’s integrity by labeling him as tilting to the side of the ruling green camp. Huang’s political maneuver would intensify the anti-green sentiment among Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and TPP supporters, which seems like a win-win situation for him.
However, it is not a win-win situation. Huang’s behavior would continue to lose the support of floating voters for him and the TPP. Based on an opinion poll result released by the Taiwanese Public Opinion Foundation on Monday last week, 50.6 percent of the public agreed with the Constitutional Court’s injunction. Only 27 percent of respondents found it unacceptable.
Huang and the TPP would be the opponents of public opinion and saboteurs of the liberal democratic order if they continue to question justices’ impartiality and fight for the legislative reform bill to serve their own political interests.
Wang Chia-wei
Taipei
Fighting for the future
The impact of China’s hard power cannot be ignored, especially concerning the recent clashes in the legislature. The blue and white camps’ activities were astounding as their scorched-earth agendas revealed how little they care about upcoming democratic elections.
Six grand justices are set to retire this year. Should the blue and white camps work together to block the approval of nominated justices, it could lead to the inability of the Constitutional Court — Taiwan’s highest level of the judiciary — to function normally.
The opposition party camps would take advantage of the dysfunction to push their “reform” bill in the form of their proposed revisions to Article 4 of the Constitutional Court Procedure Act (憲法訴訟法). Their proposal demands that all 15 justices be present for court sessions to commence, which would severely threaten judicial independence and further expand the legislature’s powers. This would be a grave threat to Taiwan’s democratic institutions.
The court’s ability to hold the last line of defense is shaping up to be a long fight. On this battlefield, the recall system is one important tool for the public to resist the specter of political chaos. The planned recall of Keelung Mayor George Hsieh (謝國樑) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) party is a clarion call for this fight.
The Keelung City Council verified the postage fees for 25,000 copies of the recall list, exceeding the petition signature requirements. This shows that the strength of the public will is the basis for maintaining our democracy, as well as how little the KMT cares about the public will.
Kaohsiung’s recall of former mayor and current Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) is an example of a successful recall.
If Hsieh is recalled, it could create a knock-on effect. Recalls for legislators and mayors unsuited for their positions could start all over the country.
This could prevent the blue and white camps from continuing to throw wrenches into the functioning of government and make our democratic institutions more resilient.
It depends on our collective will, and how seriously we take the future for younger generations.
Tu Hsin-lung,
Tainan
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