PDF(2.7mb) - 國家政策研究基金會

120 Taiwan Development Perspectives 2009
1. Introduction
Ma Ying-jeou was inaugurated as president of the
Republic of China on May 20, 2008. In a New Year
message, President Ma stressed on January 1:
Taiwan entered a new and historic era of political
development last year. We have passed a test of democratization,
finishing our second peaceful transfer of
political power between different political parties. Taiwan
is advancing into a period marked by more stable
democracy and better governance. In the past six
months, the Control Yuan has been reinvested with its
full power and is now operating normally; therefore the
five-branches of the government under the Constitution
are functioning efficiently once again. We have cleaned
up political corruption and restored the political culture
of integrity 1 .
He meant the five-power government of the nation
did not function normally under President Cheng
Shui-bian over the past eight years.
The five-power government was invented by Dr.
Sun Yat-sen, the founding father of the Republic of
China. He separated the power of control from the legislative
power, and detached that of examination from
the executive power of government. In most Western
countries, a parliament or congress exercises the power
of control as well, making the legislative power disproportionately
stronger than the executive power. The
executive branch of the government, on the other hand,
is responsible for the examination, employment and
management of civil service personnel, infringing on
the neutrality of public functionaries. Dr. Sun wanted to
prevent the abuse by creating the two powers.
Dr. Sun’s separation of powers is increasingly accepted
in the West. Independent institutions, such as the
1 http://www.president.gov.tw/en/prog/news_release/
document_content.php?id=1105499867&pre_id=11
05499867&g_category_number=145&category_num
ber_2=145
Ombudsmen in Nordic countries or the Merit Systems
Protection Board in the Unite States, function like the
Control Yuan in the Republic of China, the nation’s
highest watchdog body that exercises the power of control.
While in office, President Chen Shui-bian insisted
that the central government of the Republic of China be
reduced to three yuan from the five mandated in the
Constitution. Aside from the Control Yuan, the central
government consists of the Executive Yuan (Cabinet),
Legislative Yuan, Judicial Yuan, and Examination Yuan.
He wants to get rid of the Control and Examination
Yuan simply because the five-power government was
an invention by Dr. Sun for the Republic of China proclaimed
in Nanjing in 1912. Chen even tried to rewrite
the Constitution promulgated in 1947 in an attempt to
de-Sinicize Taiwan. He tried to abolish the Control
Yuan and reorganize the Examination Yuan as a Civil
Service Commission directly under control of to the
Office of the President or the Executive Yuan.
2. Interference in the Exercise of the Power
of Examination
To get rid of the Control and Examination Yuan,
President Chen had to amend the Constitution. No
amendment was possible without the initiation by the
Legislative Yuan, where his Democratic Progressive
Party was a minority. As a consequence, hen had to
make an end run to undermine the powers of control
and examination.
According to the Constitution, the president, vice
president and members of the two yuan shall be nominated
and, with the consent of the Legislative Yuan,
appointed by the president of the Republic. All the appointees
serve a six-year term. When Chen was inaugurated
as president in May 2000, the head of the Examination
Yuan was Hsu Shui-teh ( 徐 水 德 ), whose
term of office ran out on August 31, 2002.
On June 21, 2002, Chen nominated Yao Chia-wen,
a former Democratic Progressive Party chairman, and