Taiwan's new legislature, which will formally commence on Feb. 1, will be an unprecedentedly dominant body with unrestricted powers, and no checks or balances to keep it under control.

In the new 113-seat legislature, as few as three lawmakers working in committee will be able to decide budgets and bills that are worth millions of New Taiwan dollars. Just a single legislator will be able to obstruct the legislative agenda.

Only One Party Rules the House

On Jan. 12, 2008, the Chinese Nationalist Party or Kuomintang (KMT) won the elections to the 7th Legislative Yuan in a landslide, garnering 81 of 113 seats ( the legislature is now half its previous size of 225 seats). This is far more than an absolute majority. Thus, for the coming four years the KMT will have the absolute power to make or break budget bills and other legislation.

Together with seats gained by its allies the Non-Partisan Solidarity Union (NPSU) and the People First Party (PFP), the KMT controls a whopping 86 seats versus the remaining 27 held by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) ?V a three-quarters majority that translates into far-reaching powers to initiate constitutional amendments, or impeach or recall the president.

With its scant 27 seats, the utterly defeated DPP is shy of a one-quarter blocking minority that would allow it to thwart certain KMT initiatives. Against this backdrop the DPP is virtually unable to exert any checks against the KMT in the legislature.

With the just concluded elections, the era of mutual balance between Taiwan's two major political parties has become history. If the KMT uses its monopoly on power and the resources that come with it in the best interest of everyone, it could successfully promote a host of policies. But on the other hand, it could also lead Taiwan back into the era of authoritarian one-party rule and a nightmare of unscrupulous abuse of power.

After all, a closer look at the list of the victorious KMT candidates reveals quite a number with histories of political corruption, or links to organized crime.

Who is prepared to oversee the KMT? And who is able?

Given its new power monopoly in the legislature, the KMT 'needs to exert self-discipline,' KMT lawmaker Lee Jih-chu, who won reelection as a legislator-at-large, is quick to assert. Lee believes that, being the largest party in the legislature, the KMT must live up to its responsibilities, strictly avoid conflicts of interest, and work for clean, non-corrupt politics.

Lee suggests that the KMT leadership immediately formulate disciplinary rules as a code of conduct. The KMT party caucus could even encourage the legislature to amend the penal provisions in the Public Functionaries' Conflicts of Interest Prevention Act, strictly prohibiting lawmakers from taking posts in commercial enterprises, in order to meet the electorate's expectations.

Lee further points out that the KMT should take the lead in establishing a dedicated 'legislative channel' that would transmit live broadcasts of legislative debates via television or the Internet to make legislative proceedings and the lawmaking process more transparent. Such live broadcasts would not only do away with the bad practice of 'black box' negotiations behind closed doors, but also create a mechanism for civic supervision of the legislature, she suggests.

Resuscitating the Control Yuan

Tang Fei, a retired general who left the KMT to serve as premier in the DPP's first cabinet after it became the ruling party in 2000, has made a vocal appeal to the new legislature to make reviving the Control Yuan a pressing item on its agenda. The Control Yuan, which has the power to investigate government institutions and officials including lawmakers, has been virtually defunct since January 2005, because the legislature has not ratified President Chen Shui-bian's nominations for Control Yuan members.

'Getting lawmakers to formulate laws to supervise themselves is no easy task,' says Tang, now president of the Taiwan Vision Forum and Association.

Currently, five laws exist to regulate lawmakers' conduct, but ironically they only lay out principles without providing clear rules for implementation.

Tang points out that because the nominations for Control Yuan members were not passed during the past three years, the Legislative Yuan has become the only government body in Taiwan that is not subject to any supervisory mechanism. Should the KMT be serious about its pledge not to abuse its newly won overwhelming power, it should revive the Control Yuan's functions, Tang argues. 'Ordinary people are supervised by others, and ordinary officials have someone watch over them. So why can't the Legislative Yuan establish a supervisory institution with public authority'?

Ku Chung-hwa, chairman of legislative watchdog Citizen Congress Watch, insists that the only way to rein in the beast of a monopolized legislature is for citizens to band together to serve as its 'tamer.' Only if the people form the 'largest party' apart from the legislature will they be able to supervise and counterbalance it, says Ku, who is also a sociology professor at National Chengchi University.

Therefore, Ku's group is presently looking into realizing some sort of 'source control' for the newly elected lawmakers by monitoring the quality of their contributions in plenary debates and committee meetings. As soon as the new legislature starts its session, Citizen Congress Watch will launch its civic monitoring mechanism by establishing online files for all 113 legislators, which will be filled with information on their participation in legislative debates held during their four-year term. At the same time the group will dispatch volunteers to the legislature to take notes on lawmakers' conduct.

'We want the public to thoroughly understand what the lawmakers are doing,' says Ku, asserting that his group is determined to monitor the legislature on behalf of the people so that malicious and unqualified lawmakers have no place to hide.

No Excuses Now

Yet the legislature not only needs to become more transparent and more regulated, but also needs to make progress toward higher quality debate and lawmaking.

Yung-tai Hung, a political science professor at National Taiwan University, suggests that the downsized Legislative Yuan only needs to slightly adjust its internal rules and regulations and enlarge the current Organic Laws and Statutes Bureau to rapidly increase its clout.

Hung points out that the outgoing legislature quickly pushed through a bill just one day before its term ended that doubled the number of assistants to 14 per lawmaker on the grounds that they will face a greater workload in the streamlined legislature. But Hung thinks this is putting the cart before the horse.

He argues that the Legislative Yuan's Organic Laws and Statutes Bureau is staffed with legal experts including many with doctorates who provide policy analysis and assist with drafting laws. But since the bureau is severely understaffed, with just 50 people serving 113 lawmakers, it has been divested of its original functions.

'Lawmakers' assistants take care of the lawmakers' own business, while the Organic Laws and Statutes Bureau takes care of state affairs. It would even pay off if they had a staff ten times the size!' Hung says emphatically.

At a post-election press conference, KMT heavyweights greeted the media with rather earnest faces, refraining from any display of euphoria over the landslide victory. Presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou also gravely declared with a stern expression that the election win was 'the beginning of responsibility' and that the KMT would keep the people's expectations in mind.

Still, a great deal could be done when it comes to reforming the Legislative Yuan. With its stranglehold on power in the legislature, the KMT no longer has any excuses for putting off reforms.

Four Things the New Legislature Could Do Right Away

1. Review the issue of nominating Control Yuan members.

2. Establish a legislative media channel for more transparent information.

3. Amend the Public Functionaries' Conflicts of Interest Prevention Act

4. Expand staff at the Legislative Yuan's Organic Laws and Statutes Bureau

Translated from the Chinese by Susanne Ganz

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Chinese Version: 誰來監督國民黨獨大的國會？