Ill-defined presidential authority a KMT legacy

By Lin Hsin-yi 林欣怡
Wednesday, Jun 07, 2006,Page 8

President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) announcement that he would relinquish powers not specifically conferred by the Constitution has been interpreted by some as the result of an unconstitutional expansion of power before recent scandals forced him to scale back his authority. Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) slammed Chen for what he described as a private trading of powers. Presidential powers cannot be ceded, Ma said, adding that from this it was easy to see that Chen had expanded his powers unconstitutionally, wresting authority away from the premier.

Ma's criticisms are specious. Taiwan's Constitution is actually quite vague with regard to delineating the powers of the president and premier. No matter how the president chooses to exercise his authority, a reasonable constitutional interpretation of his actions likely exists. The vagueness and discrepancies of the Constitution have led to a shaky separation of powers between the president and premier. The problem is the Constitution. Ma, however, feels that the Constitution is fine just the way it is, which is a disingenuous position.

One look at the original text of the Constitution, prior to amendments, reveals that its authors envisaged a Cabinet government. However, under the Temporary Provisions Effective During the Period of Communist Rebellion, the Constitution was suspended for more than 40 years, and was subsequently amended seven times. When the National Assembly served as the overlords of the Constitution, whatever changes the ruling party wanted, they got. The KMT erroneously thought they would be at the helm forever, and so purposely kept intact an authoritarian system headed by a president. Moreover, when Taiwan's National Security Council (NSC), a body which further centralized the president's powers, was brought to life by a constitutional amendment, the powers that "were" obviously did not imagine that Chen would become president in 2000. Only then did the KMT realize the excessive power of the presidency they had shaped -- a presidency largely unchecked by the legislature.

The establishment of the NSC allowed the president to influence executive policy-making in the name of national security interests. Additionally, the fact that the president is directly elected bestows him with a powerful public legitimacy, and he can appoint the premier without the legislature's approval. Thanks to constitutional amendments, further powers were concentrated in the hands of the president.

Our current Constitution has been patched together through numerous amendments and does not have an integrated structure. As such, there is no way to clearly demarcate the powers and responsibilities of our government agencies. If certain parties insist on claiming that Chen has trampled on the Constitution in expanding his powers, then I must insist that such is the inevitable consequence of the KMT's constitutional amendments, which were enacted for reasons of political expedience.

The endless string of scandals surrounding Chen has spurred society to revisit issues pertaining to the structure of our political system. I hope recent controversies can galvanize leaders to abandon individual political interests and partisan politics, and come together in the spirit of reform. Our country needs to be reformed from the ground up, with a collective push to revise a Constitution too vague and too fractured to facilitate truly effective governance.

Lin Hsin-yi is the Secretary-General of the Constitutional Reform Alliance.

TRANSLATED BY MAX HIRSCH