A coalition of social activists and human rights groups are pushing for a citizen – based rewriting of Taiwan's constitution that would bolster guarantees for basic human and social rights. An nationwide action day for people power will take place on April 10, reports Dennis Engbarth from Taipei.
Composed of over 20 human rights and social activist organizations, the Alliance for the Promotion of a Citizen Constitutional Council is calling for a comprehensive rewriting of Taiwan's political framework that, for the first time, will include extensive “bottom-up“ citizen participation.
The current “Republic of China“ (Taiwan's official name) constitution, drafted in mainland China, was imposed on Taiwan by the Chinese Nationalist Party (Kuomintang or KMT) government of the late autocrat Chiang Kai-shek after the KMT lost the Chinese civil war in the late 1940s.
Most of the framework's modest provisions on democratic and citizen rights were deep-frozen during four decades of KMT martial law rule through the late 1980s. But seven revisions carried out from 1991Â through 2005 by the KMT itself — and later through consultations with the rising opposition Democratic Progressive Party — left Taiwan with a political system in which power and responsibility are not commeasurate.
Although directly elected, the president has no direct role in state administration, the premier or head of government is appointed by the president and is not responsible to the national legislature,
and no feasible methods exist to resolve deadlocks between the executive and legislative branches.
“We have a system in which the president can do want he wants with impunity and there is no way that the people or even the legislature can stop him no matter how low his support is or how unpopular his policies,“ said Economic Democracy Union convenor and lawyer Lai Chung-chiang.
An example was the push by President (and, until recently, KMT chairman) Ma Ying-jeou to ram through the legislature a bill to ratify a controversial “Cross-strait Trade in Services Agreement“ despite widespread concerns that the pact would exacerbate wealth inequalities and undermine democratic freedoms.
Revamping this framework was seen as nearly impossible after amendments approved in June 2005 mandated that future changes to the constitution would have to be proposed by a three-fourths majority of the Legislature and ratified by at least 50 percent of all eligible voters in a national referendum.
New energy from the sunflower movement
However, the question of constitutional re-engineering was re-energized during the past year of social and political activism, punctuated by the March 18-April 10 “Sunflower Movement“ occupation of Taiwan's parliament against the services trade agreement with China, a mass rally of over 300,000 against the pact March 30 and street demonstrations in late April that scuttled plans to complete a bitterly controversial US$10 billion fourth nuclear power plant near Taipei, the capital city.
The demand for a "citizen constitutional council“ was first issued on March 24 during democratic deliberations among participants in the so called “Sunflower“ occupation, but rejected out of hand by the rightist Ma government. The term “Sunflower Student Movement” referred to the use of sunflowers by the protesters as a symbol of hope and was popularised after a floristry contributed 1000 sunflowers to the students outside the Legislative Yuan building.
Late last year, the alliance had been formed and launched a long-term program of “bottom-up“ citizen forums to prepare the groundwork for a national “Citizen Constitutional Council“ in 2015.
However, an unprecedented electoral defeat suffered by the ruling KMT in nationwide mayoral elections in November 2014 put the feasibility of constitutional change on the immediate political agenda. The opposition Democratic Progressive Party won 13 mayoral posts, compared to six for the ruling KMT and three for independent candidates, including prominent surgeon Ko Wen-jo who won the nation's capital of Taipei City.
A survey of 1,069 Taiwanese adults by the Taiwan Thinktank showed WHEN? that nearly 60 percent saw the mayoral elections as a “vote of no-confidence“ in the current administration and its “pro-China and pro-conglomerate policies.“ The scale of the victory triggered Ma's resignation from the KMT chairmanship. He was replaced as ruling party leader on in January 2015 by moderate New Taipei City Mayor Chu Li-lun, but remains president.
Academia Sinica Institute of Jurisprudence research fellow Mr. Huang Kuo-chang, told IPS that the March occupation “exposed to the Taiwan people the grave dysfunction of our political system“ and that “the elections have finally forced the KMT to consider the necessity of constitutional reform if it wants to survive.“
Political Parties in the starting blocks
Late last year, the KMT and DPP legislative caucuses formed task forces on constitutional revision, but the two parties remain mainly concerned with revamping the central government structure and the legislative election system. However, the top priority for social activist and human rights organizations is securing the equivalent of a constitutional “Bill of Rights.“
National Taiwan University professor of law (Ms) Liu Ching-yi told IPS that the incorporation of second and third generation human rights as listed in major international covenants directly into the Constitution “will substantively help people defend their basic freedoms, labour rights, residence rights, right to life, social equity and other basic rights no matter how the national system is restructured.“
Professor (Ms) Chen Shao-ju, also of the NTU law department said “constitutions in other new democracies, such as South Africa, have special provisions to ensure substantive equality and social justice.“ “We need to incorporate detailed provisions to protect basic human and social rights from discrimination or infringement by the state and substantive abrogation by government – business collusion,“ Chen added.
Numerous cases of such collusion among central and local government authorities and business groups have erupted in recent years, including arbitrary land expropriations and soaring real estate prices which have resulted in the loss of the right to suitable housing across Taiwan and even the loss of lives.
Strengthening human rights
The most concrete proposal in this spirit so far was submitted by DPP Legislator (Ms) Cheng Li-chun. Her draft, backed by the Taiwan Civic Union, the Taiwan Labor Front and other activist groups, would incorporate many social and human rights into the main text of the Constitution.
Cheng's draft mandates that the state would have the obligations to guarantee human dignity over social order or economic growth; ensure that everyone has the freedoms of residence, confidential communication and privacy; provide remedy and assistance for persons who are impoverished or face urgent needs; and, refrain from expropriating the land or assets of people except in the case of necessity for actual public interest and only with proper compensation;
The draft would also introduce explicit guarantees for basic labour rights and healthy working conditions; ensure the right of the people to participate in decision-making on management of the environment and natural resources and would require the state to protect the ecology and promote environmentally sustainable development. Last but not least, Cheng's draft would mandate the establishment of a national human rights commission and set up a human rights reporting system.
Taiwan Labor Front research director Hung Ching-yu told the author that “incorporating guarantees for social rights in the constitution will not immediately realize social equity, but will least place some restrictions on government laws and policies that can lead to greater inequality.“
Constitution reform by citizens participation
In the wake of the jumping of the major political parties on the constitutional reform bandwagon, the prime concern of Alliance members has become ensuring that “citizens are the subject“ of the re-engineering project.
“We must set in place robust procedures for people to participate and feel a close connection and involvement in this process if it is to succeed,“ said National Taiwan University political scientist Chen Chun-hung.
Early this year the Alliance to Promote a Citizen Constitutional Council proposed suggested that a “National Affairs Council“ proposed by DPP Chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen should bring political parties, legislators, civil society organizations and other civic leaders together to meld a “procedural consensus“ on “how to carry out a bottom-up comprehensive constitutional reform.“
For proposed changes for which there is already a strong consensus, the NAC would schedule regional forums meetings followed by a national Citizen Constitutional Council which would draft proposals for approval by a Constitutional Reform Commission to be established by the Legislative Yuan.
Proposals which receive the required three-fourths support from lawmakers would then be submitted to the people for ratification in tandem with the next set of national legislative or presidential
elections in 2016. Such draft amendments are likely to include lowering the voting age from 20 years of age to 18, rationalizing the stiff threshold for amending the constitution and, perhaps, a “bill of rights.“
In parallel, the NAC would set up a procedure for more controversial amendments that would begin with numerous “grass-roots forums“ among citizens followed by “promotional forums“ which would lead to one or more “citizen constitutional councils.“ Those councils would submit constitutional proposals for approval by the legislature and their submission to the electorate for ratification in late 2018 in tandem with the next scheduled set of nationwide local elections.
Dennis Engbarth (text and photo) is an independent journalist based in Taipei. This story is re-published with the kind permission of the Inter Press Service News Agency.
