The Executive Yuan actually ordered compliance with this legally non-binding suggestion, which eventually became an obstacle to reasonable personnel increases for local governments.
The Ministry of Personnel under the Examination Yuan also issued some very detailed and stringent administrative regulations.
For instance, it harshly demanded that the various local governments be uniform in their implementation of self-governance, despite differences in local population, resources and industries. I think the central government should have given the local governments latitude about how to tailor clothing that fits perfectly, rather than compelling all the local governments to wear the same one-size-fits-all uniform.
The above-described difficulties of the local governments all derive from an erroneous mentality of central-government versus local government, top versus bottom and central government officials versus local government official.
Central government officials who have never served in the local governments have never been able to understand the suffering and pain of the local areas. They tend to see acts done or goods provided for the local areas as "benevolent charity" granted by the central government.
How do you implement local self-governance with this kind of obnoxious attitude?
The Ministry of the Interior is the government organ in charge of affairs relating to local self-governance. After Chang takes over the ministry, she will not only have the opportunity to reverse the situation, criticized just two months earlier, but also change the attitude of the central government officials.
From this perspective, the people of Chiayi City should bid a tearful yet joyful farewell to Chang.
Wang Hsing-nan is a DPP legislator.
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