The New Cabinet Shouldn’t Deal with the Legislature by Going Through the Motions
2017/07/14
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The New Cabinet Shouldn’t Deal with the Legislature by Going Through the Motions
United Daily News Editorial (Taipei, Taiwan, ROC)
July 11, 2017
Translation of an Except
The Legislative Yuan passed the "Special Statute Governing the Forward-looking Infrastructure Construction Plan"; however, criticism arose over faking the cutting in half of its budget and over the KMT’s ineffective oversight. Putting aside the calculations of political parties, “the cutting in half of the number of years” of the Special Statute by the Legislative Yuan, in fact viciously slapped the Lin Chuan Cabinet in the face, expressing non-confidence in the Cabinet version of the Special Statute. If Lin Chuan believed that "if the head passes, the body will follow," the substantive budget review that follows could be handled in a high-handed fashion, he would, we are afraid, misjudge the situation.
The Special Statute is but a legal framework; when the Legislative Yuan reduced it to 4-year, NT$420 billion, it means that the Legislative Yuan did not provide full authorization. What’s more, the voices of opposition from the private sector against the high-handed approach of the Tsai government are mounting; in the subsequent substantive budget review, neither the ruling nor opposition parties would likely let the Cabinet have its way. The KMT was earlier criticized for “deliberately letting go”; in the subsequent budget review, it could not but raise its guard. Another crux is, four years later, the issue of the Special Budget for the second period will arise; the outcome will depend on the ecology of the new legislature. Considering the fast-changing political ecology in Taiwan, whether the DPP will be able to maintain its present predominance, nobody dares to say.
Ever since the forward-looking plan was introduced, it has been strongly questioned by numerous sectors concerning various issues, including the squandering of the national budget, the cavalier drafting of the plan, and the political favoritism in the distribution of funds, all need adjustment and improvement. If Lin Chuan is totally indifferent to these concerns, how can the people believe that this Cabinet can appropriately implement the plan of over NT$400 billion? If the Cabinet does not cherish the hard-earned money of taxpayers and their succeeding generations, still refusing to seriously vet the legitimacy and reasonableness of the plan, only thinking about “squandering the money," it should beware of being engulfed in the flames of the populace’s fury.
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