Taiwan Church News

3279 Edition

December 29, 2014 - January 4, 2015

Church Ministry

Taiwan's Draft Of Constitution Is Released By TAUP To Spur A Constitutional Reform

Reported by Chiu Kuo-rong

After a land-slide defeat in the so-called nine-in-one election on November 29, 2014, forcing President Ma Ying-jeou to resign from his post as KMT Chairman, Taiwan society began to figure out how to solve the major constitutional evil - the absence of check-and-balance against the President's overwhelming power.

On December 24, a group of legal experts and law professors from Taiwan Association of University Professors (TAUP) releases a draft of constitution, which is their Christmas present to Taiwan society after a six-month brain storming. They urge the congress launch a constitution committee, which could not merely start the constitutional reform but also establish a brand new Taiwan constitution fit for Taiwan's status quo.

Yao Chia-wen, former President of Examination Yuan and currently Dean of the Tsinghua University Center for Education, expresses that the idea of national identity underlying this constitutional draft is clear: the sovereignty of Taiwan belongs to the people of Taiwan, and Taiwan as a country established by all Taiwanese will protect the human rights, seek justice for all, pursue the happiness of this island and maintain world peace.

Tsai Ming-hsien, former Defense Minister and now a law professor of National Taichung University of Science and Technology, points out that the preservation and autonomy for the aboriginal peoples are specially stipulated within a special chapter this constitutional draft. The basic thought behind this chapter is to restore back the historical justice toward the marginalized aboriginal peoples, ensure their natural sovereignty and rights, and promote the substantial equality between the ethnics.

Chen Li-fu, Assistant Professor of Humanities and Information Department at Alethia University, remarks that the national institutes, as the embodiment of the sovereignty, has to be built up based on democratic and legal principles and operated according to the ideas of separation of powers and check-and-balance. Therefore, in order to safeguard the basic rights of the Taiwanese people, the powers of the state within this constitutional draft is divided among a legislature, an executive and a judiciary.

As to the most debated issue, whether Taiwan should adopt parliamentary system or presidential system, the stance of this constitutional draft prefers a mixed one - ie. a parliamentary system with President elected through direct election. This is because a figurehead President cannot be accepted by current Taiwan society. So, the President has to be granted some powers: as the chief of the military to deal the emergency; the power to dismiss the congress; nominally nominate the executive head of the state, and etc.

Translated by Peter Wolfe