Taiwanese lawmakers pushed, shouted, and unfurled banners at one another in a dispute about efforts to pass contentious parliamentary reforms.
The two main opposition parties, the pro-China Kuomintang (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), have joined hands to back reforms that give parliament greater scrutiny over the government.
Another controversial proposal is where lawmakers can punish officials for contempt of parliament if they are considered to making “false statements” or “withholding information.”
The ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) says such a law lacks a clear definition. Lawmakers wearing headbands reading “democracy has died” demanded more discussions on the proposals. Though they vented their anger at the opposition there was no repeat of Friday’s scenes of MPs kicking and punching one another
The squabble comes just as Lai Ching-Te takes office as the new president. Lai faces a number of challenges. Firstly, he faces an angry China which views him as a “dangerous separatist.” Secondly, his party has lost its majority in Parliament.
However, the new president does have the support of his people. Several hundred protesters gathered outside parliament to protest against the reforms. They accused the opposition of working in concert with China and trying to kill democracy.
Chang Hung-lin, the head of Citizen Congress Watch, a non-government group advocating for citizen supervision of parliament, says that the current reform proposals “overly expand” the power of the lawmakers.
He said the current proposals give lawmakers the right to demand parties to testify in parliament without proper checks and balances. Despite his concerns, some of the reform bills passed a second reading in Parliament.
The two main opposition parties, the Kuomintang (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) have enough seats for a majority. As a result, the government will find it hard to fight the reforms bills.
(REUTERS)
