In a strange sequence of events, a Taiwanese member of parliament grabbed hold of a bill and ran off with it in order to stop it from being passed on Friday. Chaotic scenes were witnessed from Taiwanese Parliament, called the Legislative Yuan, on Friday as blows flew and lawmakers knocked down each other.
Amid the conundrum, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmaker Liu Chien-kuo was seen snatched bill documents from the Legislative Yuan’s secretary-general, to stop the proceedings, according to an ANI report.
A video which has now gone viral on social media, shows him snatching the bill and quickly running out while dodging other people in the parliament.
South African MPs should have done the same with NHI.
A member of Taiwan’s parliament stole a bill and ran off with it to prevent it from being passed. pic.twitter.com/HFtOoio7Jr
— Sir Cabonena Alfred (@Lebona_cabonena) May 18, 2024
On the same day, a bitter dispute about reforms to the chamber made Taiwanese lawmakers shove, tackle and hit each other in parliament. This comes just days before President-elect Lai Ching-te takes office without a legislative majority, on Monday, according to a Reuters report.
Even before the voting began, some lawmakers were seen screaming and shoving each other, including the security personnel, who were trying to break the fight outside the legislative chamber, before the action moved onto the floor of parliament. Lawmakers surged around the speaker’s seat, some leaping over tables and pulling colleagues to the floor. Though it did calm down, there were more scuffles in the afternoon.
Lai, who is to be inaugurated on Monday, won January’s election, but his DPP lost its majority in parliament. The main opposition to the DPP is the Kuomintang (KMT), which has more seats than the DPP but not enough to form a majority on its own. It has been working with the small Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) to promote their mutual ideas, reported Reuters.
The opposition is trying to enhance parliamentary scrutiny powers of the government, including a controversial proposal to criminalise officials who are deemed to make false statements in parliament.
The DPP has charged the KMT and TPP of improperly trying to force through the proposals without the customary consultation process in what the DPP calls “an unconstitutional abuse of power”. Parliamentarian from all three parties were involved in the altercations, and traded accusations about who was to blame, reported Reuters.
Netizens Comment On The Stolen Bill
While commenting on the events of Friday, netizens had a lot to say, regarding the lawmaker who ran away with the bill, one user of X, formerly Twitter said, “That’s the quick way of settling ones differences folks! 🤣🤣”
Another wrote, “Democracy is the best revenge.”
A user commented, “Taiwan’s parliament is always wild.” Another user satirically noted, “Fight fight as Taiwan lawmakers are notorious for!”