Civil Society Urges the Ruling Party: Please Do Not Block the Amendment to the Assembly and Parade Act!
Last edited: 2026-11-03
On May 10, the Internal Administration Committee of the Legislative Yuan passed the initial review of the amendment to the Assembly and Parade Act, which was subsequently scheduled for second and third readings in the plenary session and cross-caucus consultations. Enacted in 1988, the Assembly and Parade Act is fundamentally a remnant of the martial law regime. Over the years, countless peaceful assemblies have been ordered to disband and forcefully dispersed by police, and numerous citizens have been prosecuted and sentenced under this Act, severely infringing upon the freedom of assembly guaranteed by the Constitution. This legislative revision comes a full decade after the previous one, and we are gladdened to see the Legislative Yuan swiftly complete the amendments to forge an Assembly and Parade Protection Act.
What is concerning is that a minority of lawmakers from the ruling party have claimed they will use the opportunity of the ruling party holding the rotating convenorship of the Internal Administration Committee starting May 14 to overturn the resolution of May 10, on the grounds that the Executive Yuan's version has not yet been submitted to the Legislative Yuan. We disagree with this approach. The Constitution does not stipulate that the Legislative Yuan must wait for a proposal from the Executive Yuan before amending laws. Furthermore, regarding the general direction, shifting from a permit system to a notification system and abolishing criminal penalty provisions have already become a consensus among the ruling and opposition parties as well as civil society. As for differing opinions on specific articles, these can readily be addressed during the deliberations in the plenary session. We call upon lawmakers of all parties: if you have differing opinions on the draft Assembly and Parade Protection Act passed in the initial review, you may submit individual amendments article by article during the second reading in the plenary session, or introduce a new bill altogether. Please do not let the amendment bill—which has finally made headway—return to square one by overturning the decision or refusing to acknowledge the meeting minutes.
We must further remind ruling party legislators that "returning the streets to the people" was a political promise made by President Ma during his 2008 campaign; and that "the current Assembly and Parade Act violates the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and shall be amended within two years of the Covenant taking effect (by December 10, 2011)" was a resolution by the Ministry of Justice. Moreover, in response to a question from civic groups during the presidential debate in this election (asking when we will finally have an Assembly and Parade Protection Act), President Ma stated, "We hope that the ruling and opposition parties will swiftly complete consultations... there is still a chance in January [2012]." If the Internal Administration Committee disregards President Ma's aforementioned commitments and allows the hard-won Assembly and Parade Act amendment bill to return to square one through overturning the decision or refusing to acknowledge meeting minutes, the outside world will perceive the Ma administration's words as inconsistent with its actions, and the administration's image will inevitably suffer severe blows. Civil society organizations will also take concrete action to issue the harshest condemnation against the lawmakers who support overturning the decision.
Initiating Organizations
Alliance to Revise the Bad Assembly and Parade Law, Taiwan Association for Human Rights, Covenants Watch, Taiwan Wildbird Federation [Note: referring to Wild Green Action Alliance / Wild At Heart Legal Defense Association contextually], Environmental Jurists Association, Environmental Law Committee of the National Bar Association, Committee on Public Interest Affairs of the Taipei Bar Association, Taiwan Rural Front, Taiwan Alliance to End the Death Penalty, Environment Animal Society of Taiwan, Amnesty International Taiwan, Green Party Taiwan, Changhua Environmental Protection Union, Taiwan Seacoast Conservation Union......
Victims of the Bad Assembly and Parade Act
Ch'en Chiao-hua, Lin Chia-fan, Li Ming-ts'ung
Sternly Condemning the Kuomintang's Malicious Obstruction of the Amendment to the Assembly and Parade Act
May 14, 2012, 13:00 PM
Statement by Legislator Cheng Li-chun
This legislator sternly condemns Kuomintang legislators such as Wu Yü-sheng for treating parliamentary rules as a dead letter during today's (5/14) meeting of the Legislative Yuan's Internal Administration Committee. Utilizing their majority advantage, they maliciously voted down the committee's May 10 resolution to submit the amendments to the Assembly and Parade Act—jointly proposed by myself and the Taiwan Solidarity Union—to the plenary session for a second reading. This act by the Kuomintang disregards the mandate entrusted by the people and President Ma Ying-jeou's pre-election promise to change the assembly and parade system from a permit system to a notification system. Without a doubt, this has ignited the flames of anger among the opposition and civil society. I hereby issue a stern condemnation against President Ma Ying-jeou and the Kuomintang caucus for "saying one thing before the elections and repeatedly breaking promises after the elections!"
1. As the supreme representative body of the people and an independent legislative organ, proposing legislative amendments is the responsibility and authority of every legislator. Whether the Executive Yuan's version has been submitted to the Legislative Yuan does not conflict with bill review. Kuomintang legislators advocating that they must wait for the Executive Yuan's version to be delivered to this House before conducting reviews effectively reduces the Legislative Yuan to a legislative bureau of the Executive Yuan!
2. The draft amendment to the Assembly and Parade Act proposed by this legislator was revised upholding the spirit of Article 21 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights under the International Human Rights Covenants, which safeguards citizens' rights to assembly and parade. Although the Kuomintang also listed the Assembly and Parade Act as a priority bill—seemingly supporting it on the surface—they have engaged in malicious obstruction in practice, ignoring the fact that the current Assembly and Parade Act violates the Constitution and the human rights covenants, and hinders citizens from taking to the streets in protest!
3. Protecting citizens' rights to assembly and parade is a universal value in democratic nations. Formulated under the temporal and spatial environment of authoritarian rule, the current Assembly and Parade Act is saturated with values that prioritize "public order over human rights." Its regulatory contents shackle human rights and expand government power, serving as the toxic remnants of martial law ideology. Having experienced liberalization, democratization, and two peaceful transfers of power, Taiwan has merely fallen short in fully implementing transitional justice, resulting in state violence repeatedly infringing upon citizens' freedom of assembly over the past four years, becoming an international laughingstock that must be immediately amended!
4. The key focuses of the amendment proposed by this legislator include renaming the Assembly and Parade Act into an Assembly and Parade Protection Act, replacing the current permit system with a voluntary notification system, abolishing restrictions on restricted zones, abolishing the system of ordering dispersal, abolishing special criminal penalties, and abolishing the prohibition on advocating communism or the division of national territory. All of these are reasonable legislative considerations aimed at safeguarding the people's voice and achieving spatial de-martialization!
5. I condemn President Ma Ying-jeou's broken promises and the ruling party's obstruction of amending this bad law. I vow to continue cooperating with the Democratic Progressive Party to promote the amendment of the Assembly and Parade Act, persistently advance transitional justice, and jointly defend the people's right to take to the streets without fear!
Three Opposition Parties Jointly Condemn Kuomintang Obstruction of the Amendment to the Bad Assembly and Parade Act
May 14, 2012, 13:00 PM
Statement by Legislator Ch'en Ch'i-mai
The Internal Administration Committee of the Legislative Yuan passed the initial review of the amendment to the Assembly and Parade Act on May 10, which was originally scheduled to be processed through second and third readings in the plenary session. However, this morning (14th), all Kuomintang members mobilized and used a 6-to-7 vote to overturn the meeting minutes. In response, DPP Internal Administration Committee Convenor Ch'en Ch'i-mai, Legislators Li Chün-i, Yao Wen-chih, Tuan Yi-k'ang, and Cheng Li-chun, TSU Legislator Huang Wen-ling, PFP Legislator Chang Hsiao-feng, and victim of the bad assembly and parade law Ch'en Chiao-hua held a joint press conference to protest President Ma Ying-jeou and Kuomintang legislators for turning a blind eye to the basic rights of the people, and announced they will take concrete actions to condemn the lawmakers who supported overturning the decision.
Li Chün-i stated that last Thursday in the Internal Administration Committee, the amendment to the Assembly and Parade Act was passed by vote and forwarded for cross-caucus consultations. Yet Kuomintang legislators obstinately opposed this under the pretext that "the Executive Yuan's version has not been delivered." Even though Convenor Ch'en Ch'i-mai agreed that as long as the Executive Yuan's version was submitted to the committee by May 31, they could be jointly discussed, the Kuomintang still refused to yield, thoroughly displaying "two-faced tactics" and "saying one thing and doing another."
Cheng Li-chun stated that the draft amendment to the Assembly and Parade Act has been advocated in society for many years, and a consensus had been reached between the ruling and opposition parties. This included President Ma Ying-jeou signing the two Covenants in 2008 and 2009, and repeatedly promising during the 2012 presidential debate to change the assembly and parade system from a permit system to a notification system. Now, Kuomintang legislators are using their numerical advantage to forcibly block the reform of the Assembly and Parade Act. "Are they afraid of the people's roar, and is Ma Ying-jeou unable to withstand it?" "Is Ma Ying-jeou going to strip away even the people's right to express their voices on the streets?"
Huang Wen-ling pointed out that during the article-by-article discussion last Thursday, Legislator Wu Yü-sheng had agreed that if the Executive Yuan's version was submitted to the Legislative Yuan by May 28, it would be reviewed together. In the end, Legislator Wu went back on his word, repeatedly tampering with and concealing the contents of the consultations. Today, he used an illegal voting method to reject a legitimate voting process. She fiercely criticized Kuomintang legislators for failing to act in accordance with parliamentary rules, asking, "Should we simply dissolve the Internal Administration Committee?"
Li Chün-i pointed out that Wu Yü-sheng has successively blocked four bills in the Internal Administration Committee—namely the "Presidential and Vice Presidential Election and Recall Act," the "Public Officials Election and Recall Act," the "Act Governing Relations Between People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area," and the "Assembly and Parade Act." He questioned whether Wu Yü-sheng is merely President Ma's hatchet man, knowing only how to execute President Ma's will while defying the basic rights and interests of the people. Li Chün-i urged President Ma to squarely face the amendment of the Assembly and Parade Act and "not use the Assembly and Parade Act as his own steel helmet."
Prior to the meeting, over twenty civic groups, including the Alliance to Revise the Bad Assembly and Parade Law and the Taiwan Association for Human Rights, issued a joint statement demanding that Ma Ying-jeou and the Kuomintang not block the amendment to the Assembly and Parade Act. In the face of today's vote, they similarly expressed regret and vowed to continue utilizing concrete actions to condemn lawmakers who supported overturning the decision.
This article is an AI-generated translation of the original Chinese text. In the event of any discrepancy, the Chinese version shall prevail.