• Military

• WMD Menu                           

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

DPP TO LAUNCH CAMPAIGN AGAINST NEWLY PASSED REFERENDUM BILL

20031128

     Taipei, Nov. 28 (CNA) The ruling Democratic Progressive Party 
   (DPP) said Friday it will launch an islandwide campaign against the 
   referendum bill that was passed by the opposition-controlled 
   Legislative Yuan a day earlier. 
    DPP Deputy Secretary-General Lee Ying-yuan said referendum 
   legislation was originally aimed at strengthening Taiwan's democracy. 
    "However, the newly passed bill based on the opposition 'pan-blue 
   alliance'-drafted version verges on the absurd and is full of 
   contradictions, " Lee said, adding that the procedures through which 
   the bill was passed were flawed. 
    Branding the legislation as an absurd, evil law, Lee said the 
   bill has turned the people of Taiwan from "masters" to "losers." 
    To highlight the absurdity and contradictory nature of the 
   legislation, Lee said, the DPP headquarters will launch a campaign to 
   veto the new bill. 
    "The legislation will mark the start of a new movement. We'll 
   follow the provisions prescribed in the new bill to overturn it once 
   and for all and push for the birth of a new referendum law that meets 
   the principles of justice and fairness," Lee said. 
    According to the newly passed, watered-down legislation, only the 
   legislature and ordinary people can initiate a proposal for a 
   referendum, while the executive branch is banned from initiating a 
   referendum. "This arrangement violates the basic democratic principle 
   of division of power and the legislature apparently has infringed 
   upon the authority of the executive branch of the government, " Lee 
   said. 
    Worse still he said was that although the bill allows individual 
   citizens to initiate a referendum proposal by collecting a required 
   number of endorsement signatures, such a proposal must be approved by 
   a screening committee whose members will be determined by political 
   parties in proportion to the number of seats controlled by each party 
   in the legislature. 
    "Under such provisions, people's rights to referendum have been 
   restricted," Lee said. 
    Stressing that the DPP will not be daunted by the setback in 
   Thursday's showdown with the "pan-blue alliance" over the referendum 
   legislation, Lee said the DPP headquarters will begin to collect 
   signatures from local people to initiate a referendum on the fate of 
   the controversial bill. 
    "If the screening committee approves the referendum proposal, the 
   vote can be held before or on the day of the next presidential 
   election on March 20, 2004. If the committee disapproves of it, the 
   referendum may have to be postponed to the next legislative election 
   in late 2004," Lee said. 
    Meanwhile, Lee said, the DPP's legislative caucus may ask the 
   Council of Grand Justices to interpret whether certain clauses in the 
   newly passed referendum bill are unconstitutional. And the Executive 
   Yuan or the Cabinet is also considering overturning the bill, he 
   added. 
   (By Sofia Wu) 
   enditem/mw