English version statement Statement from Taiwan Association Human Rights https://www.facebook.com/tahr1984
https://www.tahr.org.tw/
True democracy comes from substantial deliberation：Kuomintang (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party(TPP) should face citizens’ anger.
2024/05/18
Ten years ago, KMT legislator Chang Ching-chung(張慶忠) forcefully passed the Cross-Strait Service Trade Agreement and sparked the 318 Occupation of the legislative Yuan/Sunflower Student Movement, marking the most pivotal event in Taiwan’s recent democratic politics and social movements. Over the past ten years, the Taiwanese people have arduously defended the values of democracy and human rights. However, on May 17, the last working day before the inauguration of the Lai Ching-te administration, Taiwan’s democracy has regressed back to more than ten years ago. This was as a result of Kuomintang (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) attempts to violently end discussions and forcibly passed certain provisions into law by leveraging their majority in the legislative yuan.
The chaotic scenes in the legislature yesterday prompted numerous citizens, including young students, to gather peacefully once again at the Main Entrance of the Legislative Yuan on Qingdao East Road. They took turns giving short speeches and chanting slogans to defend democracy, strongly condemning the Kuomintang (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) for stalling proceedings and passing absurd proposals that violate the constitution. In light of this democratic regression, the Taiwan Association for Human Rights(TAHR) urges the KMT and TPP to immediately withdraw the “Draft Amendment on partial articles of the Law Governing the Legislative Yuan’s Power,”(立法院職權行使法部分條文修正草案) the “guilty of contempt”(藐視國會罪) provision in the Criminal Law, and the “Three Acts for Transportation Infrastructure Projects in Hualien and Eastern Taiwan.”(花東交通建設三法) We call for the implementation of committee autonomy in the Legislative Yuan and the return of the bills to the committees for substantial deliberation.
Since the opening of the current session of the Legislative Yuan, the Kuomintang (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) have been utilizing their joint majority to blatantly disregard legal procedures, parliamentary rules, and democratic principles, maliciously undermining the functions of the legislature. The “Law Governing the Legislative Yuan’s Power,” which was voted on May 17, was the result of secret negotiations only between the KMT and TPP. It was also described as ‘top secret’ by Legislator Huang Kuo-chang(黃國昌) that the articles within were not even disclosed during the vote. Thirty years ago, the last anonymous hand-raising vote by secret ballot took place, preventing accountability to the legislators. This time, the situation became even more absurd when the number of votes exceeded the number of legislators present. Chairperson Han Kuo-yu’s(韓國瑜) invention of the “reverse vote” (where those opposed raise their hands) further violated fundamental democratic principles of parliamentary procedure.
For this case, the Judiciary and Organic Laws and Statutes Committee did not conduct a detailed review of each article, instead referring the entire bill to party negotiations. The KMT and TPP, leveraging their majority, passed 5 motions to adjourn, completely preventing the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) version from being discussed. We emphasize that democracy cannot be reduced to a simple tally of votes. The legislative Yuan is a place for the exchange and compromise of different party viewpoints. The true value of democracy lies in deliberation and persuasion to find a balance between majority and minority. Using a majority to override and disregard minority opinions, along with physical and verbal violence against minority party legislators, constitutes a significant regression in democracy.
Additionally, the KMT Caucus, led by Fu Kun-chi(傅崐萁), proposed three transportation construction bills: the “National Expressway 6 East Extension to Hualien and Taitung Infrastructure Special Draft Act,”(國道六號東延花蓮建設特別條例草案) the “Hualien and Taitung Expressway Special Draft Act,”(花東快速公路建設特別條例草案) and the “Trans-Island Express Railway Special Draft Act.”(環島高速鐵路建設特別條例草案的三項交通建設) These proposals not only lacked the necessary preliminary assessments and public participation procedures but were also expedited to a second reading directly from the committee in just 11 minutes.
Moreover, these three transportation construction bills also mandate completion within ten years, with the required funding of 2 trillion NTD, equivalent to the entire annual government budget. However, policy formulation and implementation are functions of the executive branch, while the legislative branch is responsible for supervising and overseeing the budget. This case effectively results in the legislative branch overstepping into executive functions, violating the fundamental principle of separation of powers in a democratic society. Therefore, the TAHR strongly urges the KMT and TPP to withdraw these three bills.
Taiwan’s democracy has been hard-won, achieved through generations of Taiwanese people taking action and protesting once and once again. Even in the face of the totalitarian threat from China, we have never abandoned our values of democracy and human rights. Freedom, human rights, and a democratic constitutional system are what distinctly separate us from China’s totalitarian regime, connect us with the world, and protect our people from oppression. In light of the regression in parliamentary democracy since the new session began, the TAHR cannot stand by while the KMT and TPP recklessly undermine it. If these two majority-holding parties persist in succumbing to totalitarianism and trampling on democracy, civil society will act to demonstrate our commitment to defending our democracy, ensuring that anti-democratic violent parties hear the voice of the people!
character version statement： https://www.tahr.org.tw/news/3529
Press contact：Yu Yi chia info@tahr.org.tw
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