Sunday, August 8, 2010

只要中國國民黨一息尚存
它絕不會讓人民有公投權

 
左上方綠色的sidebar 陳述著中國國民黨跨著兩個世紀, 一直延續到今天, 剝奪人民公投權的歷史. 為了繼續使台灣人沒有發言權, 中國國民黨只要一息尚存 就絕不會讓人民有公投權.

自由時報: 台灣人想不到的公投 ◎ 陳瓊媛
最近美國密蘇里州公投要表決:是否要支持聯邦政府健保法案中「人人都要強制投保」的規定,結果以高達七十一%的多數,反對聯邦健保法案!
近日很受矚目的加州「第八提議案」,則公投決議「婚姻只限於男女之間」,支持同性戀婚姻合法者不服,告上法院,最新出爐的判決是「第八提議案」違反美國憲法「平等」的原則。接下來要怎麼演變,還要有幾次公投,如同連續劇般,敬請期待!
如果你覺得這是因為美國是民主成熟的國家,才有可能幾乎「什麼都可以公投」,請看下列例子:
一般台灣人普遍認為落後的非洲國家肯亞,才剛舉辦完修憲公投!各國際媒體都在注意,結果公投和平結束,投票率極高,通過要修改憲法。而因種族屠殺而惡名昭彰的蘇丹,近日也要舉行「南蘇丹獨立公投」。
在民主國家「公投」猶如家常便飯,現在連非洲國家肯亞、蘇丹都在辦修憲、獨立公投,而號稱亞洲民主奇蹟的台灣,卻因為中國共產黨說了幾句話,使得逾十萬人連署的ECFA公投,被馬政府的十二個人擋下來;最新進度是,被情治單位關切、攸關人民健康的美牛公投,也告「夭折」!
實在不懂,為什麼留學美國受西方民主思想洗禮、在台灣被民主制度選出來的馬英九,這麼怕公投?
(作者為美國台僑,從事生化研究)


Taiwan News: KMT uses disinformation to block Taiwan democracy


President Ma Ying-jeou's rightist Chinese Nationalist Party (Kuomintang) government is disseminating disinformation to justify its abrogation of the constitutional right of the Taiwan people to decide themselves whether to approve or reject a controversial free trade pact with the authoritarian People's Republic of China.The KMT government has already used the so-called Referendum Review Committee to block two petitions for ECFA related referendums, including a veto on June 3 of a petition signed by over 100,000 citizens submitted by the Taiwan Solidarity Union to be permitted to collect the 900,000 signatures necessary to put on the ballot a referendum on "Do you or do you not agree that the government should sign an Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement with China?"
Within a month, the TSU and Taiwan-centric civic groups collected another 100,000 - plus signatures and submitted a new petition on the same question noting that the RRC's fatuous pretext that there was as yet no such thing as the ECFA had been invalidated by its signing in Chongqing on June 29.
The RRC held a public hearing Thursday at the Central Election Commission to prepare for its August 11 decision that was attended by TSU Chairman Huang Kun-hui and various academics.
However, even though the RRC is legally mandated only verify that proposed questions concern the ratification of a law, the initiative of a legislative principle or the initiation or ratification of a major government policy and not to vet its actual content, the RRC also invited senior officials from the Ministry of Economic Affairs and the Mainland Affairs Council.
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The two officials not only questioned the need for a referendum since the ECFA was "beneficial for business" and had been "fully discussed" with the Legislative Yuan, but also offered disinformation to buttress the RRC's upcoming denial of the right of the Taiwan people to ratify or reject this critically important agreement.
The first piece of misinformation was disseminated by MAC Deputy Chairman Kao Kang, who expressed doubt that a referendum is unnecessary since a MAC opinion poll showed that "61 percent supported the ECFA."
Besides the fact that the MAC's poll released on July 6 was a quilt of leading questions, its findings were contradicted by polls conducted late last month by the KMT friendly TVBS on the five municipal elections showed an average of only 43.4 percent backing for ECFA with 33.6 percent opposed.
Even more grave was the outright falsehood uttered by MOEA Deputy Minister Lin Sheng-chung who told the RRC hearing that there were "no cases" of economic agreements being submitted to referendum in developed countries, according to a Central News Agency report.
This is not the first time that this falsehood has been peddled by senior KMT government officials.
During a news conference held at the Executive Yuan June to announce the RRC's veto, State Minister Yiin Chi-ming asserted that "not one of 276 free trade agreements in force worldwide was ratified by referendum."
Swiss FTA referendum
Two certified cases of FTAs ratified by national citizen referendum disprove this claim.
Most recently, Costa Rica citizens voted on October 9, 2007 to ratify by a 51.6 percent to 48.4 percent margin their nation's entry into the "Central America-Dominican Republic Free Trade Agreement" led by the U.S.
Moreover, on December 3, 1972, Switzerland held an "obligatory referendum" to ratify the FTA signed on July 22, 1972 between the Swiss Federation and the European Economic Community in which 52.9 percent of Switzerland's citizens cast ballots with 1,344,944 citizens (72.5 percent) voting "Yes" and 509,465 citizens voting "No" (27.5 percent).
Even though there was no constitutional requirement to do so and even though opinion polls showed majority support for the pact, the Swiss Federal Council resolved to submit the FTA to an obligatory referendum because it was the first vote on European integration and because the economic pact was widely perceived to have high political significance with critics warning that it would eventually erode Switzerland's national identity and neutrality.
It is noteworthy that the Swiss government believed that allowing the people to decide was necessary for an FTA with a transnational entity with shared democratic values and a free market economy and which posed no security or military threats
In contrast, the ECFA with the PRC may well be a major step toward Taiwan's integration with a far larger authoritarian one-party state which does not share our democratic values, whose economy remains largely state controlled, whose legal system is arbitrary and opaque and which has deployed 1,600 missiles aimed at our shores to threaten our national security and political independence.
These similarities and differences highlight the salience of the Swiss referendum and immeasurably reinforce arguments that a responsible Taiwan government would take the initiative, as did the Swiss government, to submit the ECFA for ratification by Taiwan's 23 million people through national citizen referendum.
Whether or not the Ma government decides to act responsibly, it must not be permitted to misled our electorate and senior officials who are caught uttering falsehoods in their official capacities should be disciplined.

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