During the five decades of KMT rule, the government became as bloated as a hot air balloon, expanding from eight ministries and two commissions to 36 ministries and commissions. This top-heavy structure has resulted in poor efficiency and a heavy personnel burden.
The reasons for this bloated structure are many: the government has had to reorganize itself in order to handle new operations as they develop; the KMT maintained a massive civil service workforce and armed forces in order to strengthen its social control; and to make good on its election promises, the DPP government established the Hakka Commission.
The government has also set up ad hoc organizations to handle incidental matters and to meet the need for power allocation, including the National Unification Council and the president's advisory groups on cross-strait relations, human rights and technology. These extra-legal organizations have added more flab.
Meaner and leaner governments are a global trend. Here in Asia, both the Japanese and Chinese governments have been undertaking large-scale structural reforms. Taiwan has been willing to do the same -- to a certain extent -- but politics keep getting in the way.
In 1988, the draft amendments for the Executive Yuan Organization Law passed their second reading in the Legislative Yuan, but have been frozen there ever since due to concerns about the political controversy they might stir up. Ten years later the Executive Yuan set up another government reform committee and proposed a set of guidelines, which called for downsizing the government by one-third -- from 36 to 25 agencies. This is the plan that President Chen Shui-bian (
The downsizing of the provincial government was a success -- to a certain extent. Eliminating the provincial level saved a great deal of red tape between the central and local governments and improved efficiency. However, the financial savings were not that great because the entire provincial staff was simply absorbed into other agencies. The central government's personnel burden remained the same. In fact, the downsizing was far from smooth. The personnel re-allocation and re-design of government procedures were less than satisfactory, due to vehement resistance from the final provincial governor, James Soong (
In the coming wave of government reforms, the government should learn from past failures and adopt a more pragmatic attitude. Government reform is not just paperwork, but a realization of the will for innovative administration. Previous efforts floundered halfway through due to weak political will. Now Chen wants to personally direct the reforms. This is a show of determination and an important step in eliminating political obstacles.
Organizational readjustments should take into account both the horizontal and vertical distribution of labor. One key principle will be the compatibility between power and function. The readjustment of power should be fair, reasonable and compatible with social trends. Afterwards, the central government will serve as a policy-making and assessment body, while the responsibility of the county and city governments will be to implement policies. The local governments will have to rectify their over-dependence on the central government -- whether in terms of financial resources, business investments or urban planning. But they will also enjoy more independence and self-determination.
The central government should realize the idea of a small government for a big society. Many of its functions can be shared by non-governmental organizations, which reduces the needs for manpower and time, and will also increase efficiency.
Like anyone wanting to reduce flab, the key id for the government to follow Nike's popular slogan and "Just do it."
Could Asia be on the verge of a new wave of nuclear proliferation? A look back at the early history of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), which recently celebrated its 75th anniversary, illuminates some reasons for concern in the Indo-Pacific today. US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin recently described NATO as “the most powerful and successful alliance in history,” but the organization’s early years were not without challenges. At its inception, the signing of the North Atlantic Treaty marked a sea change in American strategic thinking. The United States had been intent on withdrawing from Europe in the years following
My wife and I spent the week in the interior of Taiwan where Shuyuan spent her childhood. In that town there is a street that functions as an open farmer’s market. Walk along that street, as Shuyuan did yesterday, and it is next to impossible to come home empty-handed. Some mangoes that looked vaguely like others we had seen around here ended up on our table. Shuyuan told how she had bought them from a little old farmer woman from the countryside who said the mangoes were from a very old tree she had on her property. The big surprise
The issue of China’s overcapacity has drawn greater global attention recently, with US Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen urging Beijing to address its excess production in key industries during her visit to China last week. Meanwhile in Brussels, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen last week said that Europe must have a tough talk with China on its perceived overcapacity and unfair trade practices. The remarks by Yellen and Von der Leyen come as China’s economy is undergoing a painful transition. Beijing is trying to steer the world’s second-largest economy out of a COVID-19 slump, the property crisis and
As former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) wrapped up his visit to the People’s Republic of China, he received his share of attention. Certainly, the trip must be seen within the full context of Ma’s life, that is, his eight-year presidency, the Sunflower movement and his failed Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement, as well as his eight years as Taipei mayor with its posturing, accusations of money laundering, and ups and downs. Through all that, basic questions stand out: “What drives Ma? What is his end game?” Having observed and commented on Ma for decades, it is all ironically reminiscent of former US president Harry