Sit-in is start of new democratic movement: Tsai
Taiwan News | 2009-05-19
Sit-in is start of new democratic movement: Tsai
DPP Chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen launches drive to collect one million signatures on ECFA referendum
By Dennis Engbarth
Taiwan News, Staff Reporter
Democratic Progressive Party Chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen announced that her party would launch a drive to collect one million signatures for a national citizen referendum on the Kuomintang government’s plan to sign an economic cooperation agreement with China and declared that the end of a 24-hour sit-in in front of the presidential office marked "the beginning of a second democratic reform movement."
The DPP chairwoman made the statement in a closing address to over 5,000 supporters at the conclusion of the sit-in held to protest the restrictions of the Assembly and Parade Law after a massive rally to "denounce" the "one China line" of President Ma Ying-jeou and his right-wing Chinese Nationalist Party government and "protect Taiwan."
About thousand protesters remained overnight to participate in the 24-hour sit-in in front of the presidential office after the conclusion of the "Denounce Ma, Protect Taiwan" march and rally in which over 200,000 citizens of all ages participated.
The sit-in was organized by the DPP in order to protest against the restrictive Assembly and Parade Law and proposed revisions by the KMT which would effectively tighten instead of liberalize limits on outdoor rallies and marches.
After a night of speeches, folk songs and DPP historical documentaries and impromptu performances by ex-premier Frank Hsieh on a Taiwan ceramic recorder and others, the hundreds of party leaders and activists and supporters rested and spent the new day with exercises and citizens forums.
The two-day event concluded with a "No Sunset on Human Rights" rally that began at 7 p.m. which included speeches by civic group leaders, songs by Taiwanese folksinger Chen Ming-chang and addresses by DPP heavyweights including ex-vice president Annette Lu and former premiers Yu Shyi-kun, Su Tseng-chang and Frank Hsieh before a noticeably larger audience. Against the backdrop of a stage flashing the slogans of "Oppose One China, Protect Taiwan" and "Our Respects to the People," Tsai stated that the first year after Ma’s administration was inaugurated last May 20 had seen a grave erosion of Taiwan’s sovereignty in the wake of Ma’s "pro-China" tilt and a regression of Taiwan’s hard-won democracy.
The DPP chairwoman said that the two day protest would be the launch of a "second democratic reform" movement to defend Taiwan’s existing democracy correct the weaknesses and shortcomings of the "first wave" of democratization led by the DPP which ended the authoritarian martial law rule of the KMT and realized full legislative and direct presidential elections.
Tsai said that the "second democratic reform" would include the drive to liberalize or revoke the Assembly and Parade Law to "restore full freedom of speech," a campaign to defend "judicial human rights," a movement to "revamp the legislative election structure" to ensure that the distribution of seats is proportionate to the distribution of votes, and an effort to realize a rational revamping of local government structure.
In addition, the DPP chairwoman and ex-mainland affairs council chief stated that a new democratic movement would push for a "system for the democratic monitoring of cross-strait interaction" that would ensure legislative review of all cross-strait agreements and ratification by referendum of major pacts that affected Taiwan’s sovereignty.
Besides declaring that the DPP would "must win" the upcoming city and county mayor polls, Tsai also announced that the DPP would launch a petition drive for one million signatures for a referendum on whether Taiwan should sign an "economic and cooperation framework agreement" (ECFA) with the PRC as advocated by the KMT.
Tsai urged DPP supporters to "set aside all of our differences and unite as one" to promote the second democratic reform and defend Taiwan’s sovereignty.
The DPP chairwoman said the campaign would "link closely with social and grassroots movements" but also advised supporters that, like the previous democratization movement, its goals could not be realized with one event but would be the accumulative result of a campaign for institutional change. Tsai said the DPP had always played a role as an "advocate of democratic and progressive concepts and a promote of action" and declared that the party would argue for its positions based on reason but vowed that if Taiwan’s sovereignty is endangered the DPP "will not shrink from active resistance." The DPP chairwoman vowed that her party would uphold the principles of "reason and peace" but would also be "resolute and forceful" and would realize its values of "integrity, diligent governance and love of Taiwan."
Tsai stated that the conclusion of the sit-in at 10 p.m. as promised was not "the end" but marked the "bugle call" for a "second democratic reform" movement.
Even though the sit-in was unauthorized by the KMT Taipei City Government since Tsai refused to apply for a permit, the Taipei City police took no action to enforce the law besides presenting the DPP with a written document stating that the event violated the assembly law.
DPP Social Movement Director Yang Chang-chen told The Taiwan News that the sit-in would end as scheduled at 10 p.m. as the sit-in had "broken through" the law’s restrictions.
Yang told The Taiwan News that reasons for the reluctance of the Taipei City police to actively enforce the assembly law against the "illegal assembly" may have included the massive size of Sunday’s march and the large number of protestors who stayed overnight.
Yang said that another factor may have been the negative publicity for the Taipei City government from the collision of a speeding police car with protestors Sunday afternoon that left two elderly participants seriously injured, one critically.
