I am a big fan of Chen Shui-bian’s plans for constitutional change – the fact that noone can give a straight answer as to whether Taiwan is a presidential or parliamentary system, the constant battles between the legislature and executive over who has the power to do anything, and the whole “how many branches of government does a country really need?” question all point to the need for a new (or updated) constitution.

Unfortunately, KMT Chairman Ma Ying-jeou doesn’t see things that way – which means there is no chance for any change in the next several years. However, I was pleased to see that Wang Jin-pyng is publically supporting constitutional reform:

At a Kuomintang parliamentary council meeting, Wang said yesterday the party has to seriously consider increasing the membership of the nation’s highest organ to 200.

At the meeting, Wang also called for a German-style parliamentary system of government.

As a matter of fact, the Constitution mandates a dual leadership system of government. The president may appoint the premier without the consent of the Legislative Yuan, to which, however, the latter has to be responsible.

So what’s Ma’s rationale for keeping things as they are?

“The people would question the government and the parliament, if too many constitutional amendments were made,” Ma pointed out.

So to be clear: he doesn’t care whether the constitution needs reform or not – he cares about whether he would look good or not supporting a change.

Of course, the cynical take on this is that it’s hardly surprising that the head of the legislature wants to make the legislature the most important body, and that president-in-waiting Ma is more than happy to keep the presidency. However, whatever their motivations Wang is talking sense while Ma is busy sticking his head in the sand on this one.