Taiwan Church News
3192 Edition
April 29-May 5, 2013
Headline News

Reported by Lin Yi-ying

Written by Lydia Ma

Despite efforts from various organizations over the past few months to convey the people’s opposition to nuclear energy andthe Fourth Nuclear Power Plant, the KMT-dominated national legislature decided on April 26 to send a proposal to hold a national referendum on the fate of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant for a second and final reading. Because this proposal to hold a national referendum is a non-legislative proposal, it does not require a third reading. If the second reading passes, it is likely that a national referendum will be held before the end of 2013. Ironically, the day this decision was reached coincided with the 27th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster.

In response to the Legislative Yuan’s decision, anti-nuclear groups in Taiwan vowed to hold another protest rally on May 19 to decry the legislature’s refusal to convey the people’s wishes. These groups gathered in front of the Legislative Yuan in the days leading up to April 26 and held lectures, skits, and small protest rallies circling the Legislative Yuan building. They also enacted emergency evacuation exercises in case of a nuclear meltdown and actors deliberately fell down and feigned death. Anti-nuclear groups hoped that their efforts would prompt legislators to remember the Fukushima Plant disaster and to block the passage of this proposal to put the issue to a national referendum.

Anti-nuclear groups argue that a national referendum, which includes an extremely high threshold, is merely a trap and a tool for the KMT to silence anti-nuclear sentiments in the country. Based on existing national regulations pertaining to referenda, for this referendum to turn out in favor of anti-nuclear groups, these groups would need at least 9 million people to come out and vote and 4.5 million if these voters to vote in favor of halting the construction of the nuclear plant. If less than 9 million come out to vote and less than 4.5 vote in favor of halting construction efforts, the Legislative Yuan could take advantage and announce that the public doesn’t feel it is necessary to stop building the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant.

At the end of the day on April 26, the concerns of anti-nuclear groups were ignored when KMT legislator Lee Ching-hua proposed to move the proposal to a second reading. His proposal was quickly passed with a 60/45 vote in the KMT-dominated legislature. Despite some protest from DPP members shortly after the vote, Legislative Yuan President Wang Jin-Pyng announced that the proposal had been moved to a second reading.

Despite their disappointment, anti-nuclear groups are not surprised at this setback and they’re determined to hold another large-scale protest in May. However, one representative voiced disappointment at the KMT’s attempt to confuse and mislead people by the way the referendum question has been worded. This representative also voiced disappointment that the DPP didn’t adequately explain why people should oppose nuclear energy and felt that the DPP appeared resigned at the time this bill was being examined in the legislature.