Friday, August 17, 2012

DPP plans deliberation of public policy in forums

By Chris Wang  /  Staff reporter

The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) plans to promote deliberation of public policy in a series of forums and by restructuring its think tank, DPP spokesperson Lin Chun-hsien (林俊憲) said yesterday.

A three-part forum focusing on youth-related issues is scheduled to be held on three consecutive Tuesdays beginning next week, Lin said.

The forum would be the first of four “open studio” forums organized by the party, which would discuss four topics: the future of Taiwanese youth, the challenge of China, Taiwan’s political reform and Taiwan’s economic development.

The forum is scheduled to take place at the DPP’s national headquarters and is to be broadcast live online, Lin said.

Deliberation and formulation of public policies is essential for the DPP, in particular after its loss in the January presidential election, because it needs the effort to monitor the government and persuade the electorate that the DPP is ready to return to power, Lin said.

At the same time, DPP Chairman Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌), who also serves as president of the New Frontier Foundation — the DPP’s think tank — on Wednesday convened the foundation’s first meeting on the operation of the restructured think tank.

The think tank, which consists of two research centers — on security and research, and economic and social affairs — under former DPP chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), has now established 22 policy groups.

The think tank is expected to work closely with the DPP’s Policy Research Committee to function as the “brain” of the party which formulates its policies, with the former handling long-term and systematic agendas and the latter dealing with urgent issues, the committee’s executive director Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) said.

The think tank would concentrate on the major flaws of the President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) administration — the goal of its first phase — before moving on to the second phase and focus on local administration governance in the run-up to the 2014 local elections.

The arrangement coincided with similar forums organized by Tsai’s Thinking Taiwan Foundation. Many political analysts believe Tsai is interested in running for president again in 2016 and being Su’s primary opponent in the battle for the DPP’s presidential nomination.