More on the shadow cabinet

David Young at the China Post has a few details:

[The shadow cabinet] won't be exactly like the one an opposition party in the United Kingdom has, DPP sources said yesterday.

What Hsieh has in mind after he quits on May 25 is to give work to those young political appointees who will lose their jobs when the change of government takes place.

Hsieh has promised not to run for any public office after he was routed by Ma Ying-jeou of the Kuomintang in the presidential election on March 22.

But Hsieh hopes to impart the experience he gained as mayor of Kaohsiung and premier to a group of young DPP leaders, sources said.

"That's the overt rationale for Hsieh's shadow cabinet, which will keep a watchful eye on the incoming Kuomintang government," one source pointed out.

In other words, Hsieh will be the premier of his shadow cabinet leading a bunch of minister-trainees.

On the other hand, sources said, Hsieh had the DPP legislative caucus recommend that the party set up a think tank, like the National Policy Foundation the Kuomintang created after it lost power in 2000.

Those who have served as cabinet ministers will be recruited to man the DPP think tank. Scholars and experts will also be asked to join.

They will do research to help form policies for the DPP.

"Together," one DPP source said, "the shadow cabinet and the think tank will watch the new Kuomintang administration, while the party legislative caucus will rely on them for policy research."

The DPP, which now controls a mere 27 seats in the Legislative Yuan, will try to provide checks and balances with Hsieh as the undeclared leader.

Ok, well all the sources are unnamed, but it sounds plausible enough. And maybe not the ideal form for the institution.

Still, it's better than nothing, and the think tank isn't a bad idea either (Taiwan Thinktank is green, but was more affiliated with the TSU. Don't know what they'll do now).

Edit: Looks like the first mention of this shadow cabinet was published in the media as early as the 10th. Guess I wasn't paying close enough attention. In any case, whether it's because Frankie liked my message or not, I'm glad they're moving forward with this policy.