Notwithstanding the importance of the international community’s expressions of support in our quest to gain membership in the UN, the decisive factor, after all, is the question of whether the people of Taiwan are united. A recent public opinion poll indicated that 55 percent of Americans think Taiwan should have a seat in the UN. When asked whether they would support UN membership for Taiwan if our forthcoming referendum on entering the United Nations using the name “Taiwan” is passed, another 15 percent, or 70 percent of the respondents, said “yes.” This shows just how much the community of free and democratic societies respects the principle of referendum, a universal value and basic human right.

The principle “sovereignty lies in people” is the essence of democracy, and referendum is the most concrete, most direct expression of that principle. In 2003, we passed the first Referendum Act, and, in 2004, we held the first national referendum. In 2005, the Constitution was amended to abolish the National Assembly and empower the people to ratify constitutional amendments through referendum. In 2006, we mothballed the National Unification Council and its Guidelines for National Unification, dispelling the misconception of “ultimate unification” with China as a foregone conclusion, thereby enabling the 23 million people of Taiwan to enjoy the right to decide the future of their nation via referendum.

On September 14 of this year, the Central Election Commission officially announced its approval of a referendum proposal on the recovery of improperly obtained political party assets, to be held on January 12, 2008 in tandem with the legislative elections. And if the petition drive to hold a referendum on applying for UN membership under the name “Taiwan” is successful in gaining enough signatures by the end of October, and is announced valid upon review by relevant government agencies, we can look forward to holding it in conjunction with the upcoming March 22 presidential election.

From encountering initial resistance and opposition to finally being embraced and actively promoted, referendum has become a political process affirmed by both the ruling and opposition parties, and an indispensable part of Taiwan’s democracy. Practical utilization of referendum in the past few years, however, has highlighted the absurdity and unreasonableness of the Referendum Act. The act restricts referendum topics, deprives administrative agencies of the right to initiate referendum proposals, and sets excessively high thresholds for referendum petition signatures and passage of referendum proposals.

All this seriously restricts the people and deprives them of the right to be masters of their nation. Moreover, it runs counter to the democratic principle that sovereignty lies in the hands of the people. I earnestly urge the ruling and opposition parties to speedily remedy the flaws in the Referendum Act. I call on them to complete the review of related legal amendments during the current Legislative Yuan session, and change the ridiculous “birdcage” referendum law currently in effect into one that genuinely empowers the people, and the substance of which lives up to its name.

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