The scandal surrounding the Presidential Office "state affairs fund" and the special allowance funds of more than 6,500 central and local government officials has caused much controversy of late.
A key source of public disquiet is that even if legislators review government budget plans to ensure the public interest is maintained, there is no regular monitoring mechanism after the budgets are passed.
Faced with a massive amount of accounting information, the Ministry of Audit can only carry out random checks which makes it difficult to detect sophisticated cover-ups of misconduct.
In particular, a large part of the nation's budget is spent on outsourced contracts. Although the government passed the Government Procurement Act (政府採購法) in 1998 to prevent corruption, recent cases such as the electronic toll collection system and certain questionable Council for Cultural Affairs projects show that the law is still ineffective, and increased transparency is vital.
The whole process from the development, passage and implementation of budgets should be posted online for public examination.
What Taiwan sorely lacks is a transparent budget expenditure process so we can learn how the money is spent.
For example, if the Ministry of Transportation and Communications has a NT$100 billion budget, exactly what roads and bridges are built with that money? Few people actually know.
Except for audit officials' random checks, the whole process is a mystery and there is no way the general public can review the information.
This allows government agencies to do whatever they want with the money, distorts the distribution of national resources and makes corruption more possible.
Therefore, I suggest that the Legislative Yuan pass the proposed sunshine bill as soon as possible, requiring each government agency to set up a Web site to explain how its money is spent.
Even in the absence of crime, a transparent process allows the public to see whether or not the government spends its money appropriately.
For example, although there were numerous things to be done after Hurricane Katrina hit the southern part of the US last year, Republican Senator Ted Stevens still managed to pass a US$223 million budget allocation to build a bridge in Alaska linking a small town of 8,000 with a tiny airport used by only 50 residents.
The plan was of course canceled later, but it became a joke highlighting the federal government's budgetary irresponsibility.
The project was dubbed "The bridge to nowhere."
In Taiwan, there are also numerous projects that require attention today, and the country's budget is certainly not bottomless.
In addition to the legislature's strict budget reviews, more transparency and monitoring is required so that taxpayers can see how their money is spent after it is allocated to the different government ministries.
Think about this: If the public were able to see how the president spends his special "state affairs fund" simply by logging on to the Internet, would we have seen the first family collecting receipts for reimbursement?
Such transparency can save a fortune for the country and its people, but more importantly, it means that money will be spent on matters that are beneficial to the country.
Chang Ruay-shiung is the vice president of National Dong Hwa University.
Translated by Eddy Chang
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