Politics is the Art of Compromise

Politics is the Art of Compromise
China Times editorial (Taipei, Taiwan, ROC)
A Translation
July 28, 2014

Summary: The nine in one election is drawing closer. Voter support for the KMT remains low. The economic situation is gradually improving. The stock market has reached record highs. Unemployment has fallen. Consumer demand is increasing. The Legislative Yuan convened an extraordinary session today. Can the KMT respond to public opinion and accomplish something with a bill? That will be the key to reversing its fortunes in the year end election.

Full Text Below:

The nine in one election is drawing closer. Voter support for the KMT remains low. The economic situation is gradually improving. The stock market has reached record highs. Unemployment has fallen. Consumer demand is increasing. The Legislative Yuan convened an extraordinary session today. Can the KMT respond to public opinion and accomplish something with a bill? That will be the key to reversing its fortunes in the year end election.

Supporters of the KMT have long felt discontent. They voted for the KMT. They gave it a supermajority in the legislature. But to what end? The DPP invariably obstructs important bills. The KMT inevitably sits on its hands and feigns helplessness. With such a party enjoying a majority means nothing. KMT legislative impotence has demoralized the blue camp. It is the reason for pervasive blue camp defeatism.

Consider the first extraordinary session in mid-June. The DPP used a technical boycott to block blue camp job appointments. They prevented KMT legislators from obtaining ballots and marking them. They left behind a execrable constitutional precedent for legislative approval of personnel appointments. The decisive factor was not "powerful" DPP legislators. It was that some blue camp legislators had their own agenda. They constantly complained to higher ups. They hoped to force the KMT Central Committee to vote to scrub several presidential nominees for the Control Yuan.

This was reminiscent of a old Minnan dialect expression, "An eel with his head in the sand has no idea where to run to." Voter support for the KMT in the year end election has plummeted. Yet some eels still have their heads in the sand. They still hope to squeak by. The KMT is running on fumes. Yet these KMT legislators are hacking away at the KMT's roots, apparently having forgotten that they are the fruit of the Kuomintang tree.

Where one falls is where one must get up. KMT capital was eroded through defeat after defeat in the legislature. Therefore any reversal of its fortunes must be effected in the Legislative Yuan. The problem is that the majority Kuomintang lacks the ability to reconcile internal differences and summon the will to do battle. Can it push through three bills during the extraordinary session: the Control Yuan Personnel Approval Bill, the Cross-Strait Agreements Oversight Bill, and the FEPZ Bill? 

The KMT must reverse its fortunes via a strategic victory in the extraordinary session. It must "mobilize four corners" and "defend two things." To mobilize four corners means that the presidential office, the executive yuan, the party, and legislative session participants must be mobilized. They must coordinate their fight. The president must be resolute. He must be assertive and follow through. The Executive Yuan's arguments must be sound. They must communicate its intent. Kuomintang legislators must coordinate their fight. They must respond more swiftly to the DPP. One of the keys is legislative execution. Does the KMT have the will to fight to the bitter end? The extraordinary session is its last chance to fight back.

Assuming the mobilization of four corners can be implemented, the KMT must then defend two things. It must demand that the extraordinary session yield results. The first thing it must defend is Taiwan's economic competitiveness. Control Yuan personnel appointments involve the constitutional right of legislative approval. These must be passed. Two other cases include the Cross-Strait Agreements Oversight Bill and FEPZ bills. These are the lifeblood of Taiwan's future economic development. These are not about partisan electoral advantage. They affect the nation's ability to reverse its fortunes and regain its international competitiveness.

In particular, the ROC-ROK free trade agreement will be signed by year's end. Premier Jiang Yi-hua's warning that "We will be marginalized within the next 10 years" was not alarmism. If we continue our disastrous economic policies and allow the legislature to consume Taiwan's economic vitality through endless obstructionism, then "Taiwan's economic collapse" will no longer be a prediction, it will be a bitter consequence the people must endure. Therefore the second extraordinary session must show results. KMT legislators must realize that this not about partisan interests, but is part of a battle for the future of Taiwan.

The second thing they must defend, is the principles of democracy and majority rule in the legislature. Recently the KMT issued a press release strongly condemning the minority DPP for forcibly occupying the legislature 89 times over the past six years. But this number also has a negative meaning. It means that the majority Kuomintang was impotent to uphold democratic rule in the legislature 89 times.

We are not encouraging blue camp legislators to shed blood or to respond to violence with violence. Blue camp legislators must help each other. They must work together to maintain dignity and order in the legislature. As Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng indicated, blue camp legislators ought to be able to succeed. We urge President Ma and Speaker Wang to assume responsibility. The Cross-Strait Agreements Oversight Bill and FEPZ Bill are are important bills. Legislators should discuss them rationally. But if time is too short, they should be turned over to the next session for priority treatment. President Ma and Speaker Wang Ma must engage in give and take. They must allow the extraordinary session to accomplish something.

The DPP blindly persists in scorched earth protests. It refuses to engage in rational discussion. It refuses to accept majority rule. It persists in physical violence, occupying the podium, and obstructing legislative business. By bringing the legislature to a standstill, it makes bills and policies impossible to pass. It hopes that the nation will eventually sink into oblivion, collapse the nation's economy, and thereby bring down the Kuomintang. How can anyone who loves Taiwan do this?

Politics is the art of compromise, Let the legislators participating in this extraordinary session practice this art.

社論－政治是妥協的藝術
2014年07月28日 04:09
編輯部

九合一選舉愈來愈近，國民黨整體氣勢依然低迷，在國內經濟情勢日漸好轉，股市屢創新高、失業率逐漸降低、消費意願日漸提高之際，立法院今天登場的臨時會，國民黨能否回應民意，在法案上有所建樹，將是年底大選逆轉勝的關鍵契機。

長期以來，支持國民黨的群眾有個心頭上的不滿：投票給國民黨，讓國民黨取得國會多數席次有什麼用？重要法案只要民進黨杯葛就兩手一攤、束手無策。這樣的多數黨有不如無。國民黨立委在國會的孱弱表現，是藍營士氣不振、失敗主義瀰漫的重要關鍵。

以6月中旬的立法院第一次臨時會為例，民進黨技術性杯葛監委人事案，不讓國民黨立委領票、圈票，創下立法院表決人事同意權「開天窗」的憲政惡例。關鍵因素還不是民進黨立委「厲害」，而是一些藍營立委有自己的想法，頻向高層喊話，盼黨中央開放投票，好讓他們刷下幾個總統提名的監察委員。

但這真是應了一句台語俗諺：「蓋頭鰻，不知生死門。」年底選戰，國民黨氣勢已一洩千里，還有一群蓋頭鰻忙不迭地想「挫挫」國民黨已所剩無多的游絲之氣。這群立委在刨國民黨根的同時，好像都忘了自己是長在國民黨這棵樹上的果子。

然而，跌倒處就是站立處，正因為國民黨的資本，是在立法院中一場一場敗戰中賠光的，那麼，扭轉逆局的戰場自然無他，就在立法院。而關鍵就是，身為多數黨的國民黨，有沒有能力整合黨內歧見，拿出戰鬥意志，在臨時會中讓三大案：監察院人事同意權案、兩岸協議監督條例草案以及自由經濟示範區特別條例草案有所進展。

要在臨時會取得戰略性的逆轉勝，國民黨必須做到四角動員與二個捍衛。四角動員，指的是在這次臨時會中，府院黨會必須串連動員、整合戰力。總統的意志要堅定、統御要貫徹；行政院的論述要紮實、溝通要綿密；國民黨黨內立委的戰力要整合協調好，對民進黨的策略要強速回應。其中最重要的關鍵，是國會系統的執行力，也就是國民黨立委有無背水一戰的戰鬥意志，在臨時會的「最後機會」奮力一搏。

四角動員若能落實，接下來，國民黨就要在二個捍衛中，力求在臨時會交出成績單。第一個捍衛，是捍衛台灣經濟競爭力的大政策。除了監察院人事同意權關乎憲政運作必須如期通過外，另外兩大案：兩岸協議監督條例草案及自由經濟示範區特別條例草案，牽動台灣未來經濟發展的命脈，已不是一黨的選舉利益，而是整個國家能否在競爭力的劣局中翻轉的重要關鍵。

特別是年底中韓自由貿易協定即將完成簽署，行政院長江宜樺「未來10年之內會被邊緣化」的警語絕非恫嚇，如果我們繼續在重大的經濟政策上蹉跎，任由國會無止盡的杯葛耗掉台灣的經濟活力。「台灣經濟垮掉」將不會只是一種預言，而是全民要承受的苦果。所以，二次臨時會務要交出成績，國民黨立委必須意識到，這不是為一黨的利益拚搏，而是為台灣的前途戰鬥。

第二個捍衛，是捍衛國會多數決的民主大原則。日前國民黨發出新聞稿強烈抨擊，過去6年民進黨以少數霸占國會殿堂高達89次，然而，這個數字的反面意義是，身為多數黨的國民黨竟不能在國會捍衛多數決的民主ABC高達89次。

我們並不是鼓勵藍委要流血衝撞，以暴制暴。我們要呼籲的是，藍委要同舟共濟，同心協力維護國會尊嚴和議事秩序，王金平院長已經表態，相信監委同意權行使應該可以圓滿完成，但我們要呼籲馬總統及王院長，兩岸監督條例及示範區條例事關重大，應該在委員會理性討論，但時間如果來不及，就交由下會期院會優先法案處理。希望馬總統和王院長各讓一步，讓立法院臨時會有所建樹。

我們也要奉勸民進黨，一味採焦土抗爭，拒絕理性討論，拒絕多數決，以肢體衝撞、霸占主席台阻擾議事進行，讓立院空轉，致法案政策無以推動，終將使國家沉淪崩壞，皮之不存毛將焉附，以此手段鬥垮國民黨，拖垮國家經濟，豈是愛台灣者所應為！

政治是妥協的藝術，這次臨時會，立委們好好在立院開會吧。