Green Camp Occupies the Legislature: But Where Would It Take Us?

Green Camp Occupies the Legislature:
But Where Would It Take Us?
United Daily News editorial (Taipei, Taiwan, ROC)
A Translation
June 15, 2012

Summary: The TAIEX is struggling to recover. But Green Camp legislators are "occupying" the dais in the Legislature. People are panicked by rising flood waters. But DPP legislators are prostrate on the floor of the legislature, snoring loudly. Flood victims are struggling to clear debris out of their homes. A typhoon is expected this weekend. But ruling and opposition legislators persist in their power games, calculating how they can wait out the other and claim final victory.

Full Text below:

The TAIEX is struggling to recover. But Green Camp legislators are "occupying" the dais in the Legislature. People are panicked by rising flood waters. But DPP legislators are prostrate on the floor of the legislature, snoring loudly. Flood victims are struggling to clear debris out of their homes. A typhoon is expected this weekend. But ruling and opposition legislators persist in their power games, calculating how they can wait out the other and claim final victory.

The political parties may claim victory on issues such as US beef imports, the capital gains tax, and gasoline and electricity rate hikes. But the public and the nation are the scorched earth upon which the ruling and opposition parties wage their battles. Over the past four months, these issues have been hashed and rehashed, as if Taiwan did not have more important problems to deal with. Today, the end is near. Everyone wants the Legislative Yuan to end these disputes. But the opposition DPP and TSU refuse to allow the legislature to reconvene and deal with these problems.

The DPP issued a 120 hour mobilization order. The TSU issued a five day four night mobilization order. In short, the entire Green Camp is conducting a five day long, brute force occupation of the legislature. It has adopted a take no prisoners policy. Are the opposition DPP and TSU adopting their posture out of concern for the nation? Perhaps if they used the five days to participate in a ruling vs. opposition party debate, they might gain public attention and win public approval. But five days of delaying tactics, just to bring the legislature to a grinding halt, just to ensure that it is unable to get anything done? Will this really win public approval?

The opposition DPP and TSU are guilty of wishful thinking. They think their brute force occupation of the legislature will expose "ruling KMT incompetence and willfulness." But times have changed. Society is not what it used to be. Their theatrics are likely to backfire. One. The U.S. beef imports controversy has dragged on for seven years. The capital gains tax is making a comeback after 24 years. A majority of the public wants these issues resolved as soon as possible They do not want them hanging over their heads. Two. Previously the executive branch dropped the ball. It cannot escape blame for its poor communications and its lack of persuasiveness. But now the policies have been approved. Now the responsibility is in the hands of the legislative branch. But the legislature is unable to carry on its business.  The public is pointing the finger at the opposition DPP and TSU, who are violently occupying the legislature and preventing it from functioning normally. Three. The new legislature lacks a track record. Legislators receive the same salary as ministry heads. If they bring the business of the legislature to a halt, aren't they squandering the taxpayers' hard-earned money? Legislators routinely blast executive branch officials as incompetent. But what do they see when they look in the mirror?

The Green Camp's tactics may be bizarre. Its violent occupation of the legislature has brought the Legislative Yuan to a grinding halt. But its theatrics will not win public approval. They will merely expose the Green Camp's barbarism. The DPP persists in opposing US beef imports and gasoline and electricity rate hikes. It boasts that it is "deferring to public opinion." In fact, the opposition DPP and TSU have zero respect for public opinion. If they did, wouldn't they allow the ruling and opposition parties to review the issues in accordance with the law? Wouldn't that be consistent with the spirit of democratic rule?

Currently the legislature has a Blue majority and a Green minority. This is the result of voters casting their ballots in January of this year. Directly elected legislators and legislators without portfolio alike were elected by the two-vote system. The number of seats won by each party reflects the leanings of the electorate as a whole. In this case, Green Camp legislators have staged a brute force occupation of the legislature in order to bring the legislature to a grinding halt. Bluntly speaking, they are attempting to hijack public opinion. They are trifling with democracy. And they have the nerve to claim they are deferring to public opinion? If opposition parties stage a violent occupation of the legislature during normal times, they may capture the public imagination. They may provide them with a topic for dinner conversation. But flood waters have reached peoples knees. The DPP doesn't know how to quit while it's ahead. They continue to occupy the legislature, camping out overnight. They will find it hard to escape charges that they "do not feel the peoples pain."

The Democratic Progressive Party's militancy is staggering. It issued a 120 hour mobilzation order. The excitement of the DPP "legions" was manifest. But equally manifest was the DPP's irrationality and foolishness. Taiwan was been democratic for over 20 years. Yet the DPP is still playing these "crude equals shrewd" games. It is not difficult to understand why our democracy has been unable to progress to the next level. The DPP has repeatedly been relegated to the status of a minority party, election after election. Yet they never seem to recognize their own limitations. The current brute force occupation of the legislature has made its irrationality clear to everyone.

The Legislative Yuan may be a Colisseum, of sorts. But what the people want to see is the ruling and opposition parties in a "battle of wits," not gladiatorial combat. They want to see competition, not obstructionism. The public on Taiwan is not like the ancient Romans who lusted for blood. The political parties must not threaten to draw blood. Politicians must not view the legislature as a battleground that they can turn into scorched earth.

A ship that has run aground can sail nowhere. A legislature unable to function, can lead Taiwan nowhere.

停擺的國會，要把台灣帶向哪裡？
【聯合報╱社論】
2012.06.15

當台股欲振乏力之際，綠營立委攻占了國會主席台；當人們陷於暴雨侵襲的恐慌，民進黨立委卻橫臥在議事大廳鼾聲大作。當民眾在努力收拾家園、並因應周末可能來襲的颱風時，朝野立委繼續在那裡爾虞我詐，盤算如何把這場對峙之局撐到自己最後的勝利。

然而，在美牛、證所稅或油電價等議題上，不論最後什麼政黨能宣稱自己「大獲全勝」，人民和國家其實都已成為朝野攻伐、蹂躪的焦土。四個月來，社會反覆爭辯這幾項議題，彷彿台灣沒有其他值得關注的事；如今會期將近尾聲，大家希望立法院就這些爭議作個收場，在野黨卻根本不讓議事進行。

民進黨下達的是一百廿小時的動員令，台聯則是五天四夜，也就是全體綠委要進行整整五天的浴血抗爭，焦土杯葛。以在野黨這等關心國是的熱情，如果用來舉辦五天的朝野大辯論，或許能博得民眾的注目和認同；但五天的拖延戰術，卻只是造成國會空轉，結果一事無成，這能教民眾苟同嗎？

在野黨的如意算盤，是要藉議事杯葛，凸顯執政黨的無能和蠻幹；然而隨著時間的流轉及社會氣氛的變化，這樣的大動作結果卻可能適得其反。原因是：第一，美牛案拖了七年，證所稅則是廿四年後捲土重來，多數民眾無不希望相關政策早日塵埃落定，不要再懸宕不決。第二，先前決策的顛躓，行政部門的溝通、說服不力固難辭其咎，但如今拍板定奪大權落在立法部門手中，議事卻無法進行，民意問責的箭頭勢將轉向一意杯葛的在野黨。第三，本屆新國會迄今尚無任何具體表現，而立委們平日領取的是部長級薪資，若任憑議事空轉卻毫不作為，豈非虛擲人民的血汗錢？立委平日齜牙咧嘴譴責官員無能，他們從鏡中看到的自己，又是什麼形象？

簡單地說，無論綠營此次的戰術多麼詭奇，杯葛議事、讓立法院無法動彈，恐怕不是能為它贏得掌聲和人心的策略，反而暴露它自己的野蠻。再說，民進黨口口聲聲說反美牛、反漲價，目的是為了「順應民意」；事實上，在野黨如果對民意有任何尊重的話，讓立院朝野政黨依議事程序進行討論、辯證、乃至表決，那才是對民意真正的尊重，不是嗎？那也才符合民主代議政治的基本精神，不是嗎？

目前「藍大綠小」的國會結構，是今年元月才經全體選民投票產生的「新民意」。不論是區域立委或經政黨票選出的不分區立委，都是國會兩票制底下產生的委員，各黨占有的席次，反映的也是全台民眾的集體傾向。在這種情況下，綠營用霸占主席台的方式來杯葛國會議事，說不客氣些，根本是在霸凌民意、玩弄民主，怎好意思說是在反映民意？若在平時，在野黨上演攻占議事廳的戲碼，或許還能提供民眾幾日茶餘飯後的談資餘興；但在大水來犯之際，民進黨不知見好就收，還繼續在議事殿堂高臥夜宿，那就難脫「不知民間疾苦」之譏了！

民進黨的好戰，讓人咋舌。從這次一百廿小時動員令的執行，更可看出民進黨這個「軍團」的亢奮與鬥志；相對的，也暴露了它的理性和智慧不足。台灣民主化廿多年，民進黨還在玩這種「粗魯當高明」的遊戲，就不難理解我們的民主內涵為何遲遲難以提升。而民進黨在一次次的選舉中淪為國會少數黨，卻始終未能認清自己的侷限何在，從這次的杯葛動員，它的非理性已一目了然。

就算立法院是一座競技場，民眾希望看到的是朝野彼此「鬥智」，而不是「角力」；是全力「競賽」，而不是彼此「杯葛」。更別忘了，台灣人民絕不像古羅馬人那麼殘暴嗜血，政黨不必動輒揚言「浴血」對抗，政客也別想把國會殿堂及民生議題變成政治鬥爭的「焦土」。

一艘擱淺的船，哪裡也去不了。而一個無法運作的國會，能把台灣帶向何方？