TPP caucus calls on speakership hopefuls to push for reforms

Taipei, Jan. 15 (CNA) Lawmakers from the Taiwan People's Party (TPP) said Monday they would assess support for transparency and oversight reforms before deciding who to back for speaker of the 113-seat Legislative Yuan.

Saturday's election saw no party secure a legislative majority for the first time since 2004, with the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) winning 51 seats, the Kuomintang (KMT) 52 and the TPP eight.

The new batch of lawmakers will be sworn in on Feb. 1 and elect a legislative speaker.

At a news conference in Taipei, TPP Legislator-elect Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) said the party's caucus would ask speakership hopefuls from the DPP and KMT to promise to push bills amending the Law Governing the Legislative Yuan's Power before the Legislature goes into recess at the end of May.

Specifically, amendments should be made to stipulate penalties for officials should they be found to have given false remarks during a legislative hearing and to bar government agencies from refusing lawmakers' requests to access documents they keep, Huang said.

The law states that agencies may reject lawmakers' requests to access certain documents if they have a legitimate reason, but does not say what constitutes a legitimate reason.

In addition, Huang said efforts should be made to grant lawmakers greater authority in confirming nominations made by the president or the Cabinet so that they are not simply "rubber-stamped" by what was tantamount to the "legislative department" of the ruling party.

Huang added that safeguards should be put into place to prohibit lawmakers from questioning officials or sponsoring or reviewing bills if doing so would constitute a conflict of interest, especially if the subject matter is related to their family business.

Furthermore, the legislative speaker should be required to give a detailed account of how he spent his stipend and not be allowed to label such expenses as "sensitive" or "classified" information, Huang said.

Asked what would be the TPP's next move if neither the DPP nor the KMT responded to its appeals, Huang said if they were afraid to tackle such issues, he did not know why they wanted to be the speaker.

Asked if Speaker Yu Si-kun (游錫堃) from the DPP, who has been reelected to the Legislature, or KMT Legislator-elect Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), who is expected to run for speaker, would make an ideal ally, TPP Legislator-elect Huang Shan-shan (黃珊珊) said the party would first hear potential candidates' response to the TPP's proposals before deciding who to back.

Questioned whether the TPP caucus would require all of its eight members to vote for the same legislative speaker candidate or let them vote at will, the former Taipei deputy mayor said it would "of course" be the former.

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