Chang calls for clean handover

Chang Chun-hsiung (張俊雄), the head of the power transfer team for incoming president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), yesterday demanded that, during the transition period until May 20, the outgoing Cabinet refrain from making any vital policy decisions and important public position appointments.

"[The current Cabinet] should stop before going too far," Chang said, referring to what he called an "extraordinarily frequent transfer of personnel recently."

Chang used the example of current Minister of Economic Affairs Wang Chih-kang (王志剛), who was recently appointed board chairman of the Industrial Technology Research Institute. Wang did not accept the appointment.

Chang did not, however, name any other new appointments, but expressed his concern that the transfer of power should be carried out with "honesty and credibility."

He convened a press conference to make the remarks yesterday at the Legislative Yuan.

Chang, DPP legislator and the incoming secretary-general of the Presidential Office, criticized the Executive Yuan on April 18 for not cooperating in the handover of governmental affairs.

The following day he visited Vice Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄), after which both said that the problem, or "misunderstanding," as Chang put it, had been solved.

Chang's tone yesterday was moderate, suggesting that the transfer work was moving along without major hitches. Still, he pointed out four "regrettable" moves.

Firstly, he said, there was still no formal institutionalization of the transfer of power, something he said should be legislated in the future.

From the March 18 election until now, the outgoing Cabinet has made many important and even controversial policy decisions, such as revising the salary of the military, upgrading the level of the National Police Administration and setting a minimum for the budget in education affairs, Chang said.

"But decision-making on important policies like these should be left to the new administration, or it could cause the new cabinet a lot of trouble," he said.

The third "regret" concerned the transfer of personnel in the central government. He said that many high-level positions in government and government-invested foundations have been filled recently. He said such actions amounted to "position-seizure," which he said was improper.

Fourthly, he stressed that all governmental documents and archives must be kept safely for transfer. "We are worried that documents will be destroyed, as was the case before the abolition of the Taiwan Military Garrison Command (警總), particularly when there is no archives law," but added, "of course I'm not saying that they're burning documents."

Chang reiterated that the transfer should be carried out smoothly and the current government should help the new administration to become familiar with running the government, to avoid creating a vacuum period between the old and new administration, so that national security can be ensured.