Critics assail Cabinet reforms

While Cabinet takes pride in creating a leaner government after 15 years of executive dithering, critics seem unimpressed with the Executive Yuan's efforts and criticize the changes it has wrought as politically motivated.

At issue are the retention of the Overseas Chinese Affairs Commission and the upgrading of the Vocational Assistance Commission for Retired Servicemen to the ministry level.

Critics that far from making government more efficient, Cabinet reform in these areas is aimed chiefly at gaining the support of the two interest groups involved.

The Cabinet approved on April 24 a draft of the Executive Yuan Organization Law that would downsize the Cabinet from the current 35 administrative entities to 23 plus four independent institutions.

Answering charges, Lin Chia-cheng (林嘉誠), chairman of the Cabinet's Research, Development and Evaluation Commission (研考會), said that the Executive Yuan respects and welcomes constructive public criticism.

"One thing I must make clear, however, is that it [the draft] is only a proposal and needs the final approval of the legislature," Lin said. "We're open to constructive opinions and will continue to negotiate with lawmakers across party lines, because they, after all, have the final say on the matter."

The draft has proceeded to the legislature for review and final approval.

The Cabinet originally planned to incorporate the opinions of lawmakers into the draft before sending it on to the legislature.

Government was one of President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) key campaign promises. He has said that he hopes the Cabinet completes the bills for legislative review by the end of the month and implements them by May 20, 2004, when his term expires.

Claiming he himself is not 100 percent satisfied with the committee's final proposal, Shih Nun-jeh (施能傑), a specialist in public administration at National Chengchi University and a member of the Government Reform Committee, said that he hopes to see a more efficient government with a leaner structure.

"If you ask me what the ideal size of the Cabinet should be, I personally think the smaller the better," Shih said. "A big and powerful government is out and a small and efficient government is in."

Chin Heng-wei (金恆煒), editor in chief of Contemporary magazine, said that government reform is important and necessary after the peaceful transfer of power, but it still remains to be seen whether the Cabinet's restructuring plan will work.

"To reform the government is to start anew the government machine, which has long been dominated and abused by the KMT," he said. "It's too early to tell whether the plan will meet expectations."

After the Cabinet made public the proposed draft, it sparked an uproar in the legislature and was criticized by both DPP and TSU lawmakers.

While DPP lawmakers complained that they have been left out of the loop, TSU lawmakers said that they are unhappy with certain parts of the proposal.

DPP Lin Cho-shui (林濁水), Shen Fu-hsiung (沈富雄) and Chen Chung-shin (陳忠信) have even jointly proposed a different version of the downsizing plan to cut the Cabinet's 36 administrative entities further to 21.

They also called on other legislative caucuses to present different proposals of their own for discussion.

"Although we support the Cabinet's initiative to map out a blueprint for downsizing, the opinions of the legislative caucus shouldn't be left out," Shen said.

The TSU legislative caucus is publicly opposed to the establishment of the Ministry of Retired Servicemen's Affairs.

They also proposed that the Overseas Chinese Affairs Commission be abolished and integrated into the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

In addition, they proposed the renaming of the Ministry of Justice as the Ministry of Justice and Anti-corruption.

Under draft, the Cabinet's 23 administrative entities would consist of 15 ministries, six councils, and two administrations.

In addition to the seven existing ministries, eight new ministries would be established.

The are: the Ministry of Cultural and Sports Affairs, Ministry of Agricultural Affairs, the Ministry of Maritime Affairs, the Ministry of Labor and Human Resources, the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, the Ministry of Environmental Resources, the Ministry of Telecommunications and Transportation and the Ministry of Economy and Trade.

The Vocational Assistance Commission for Retired Servicemen would be upgraded to become the Ministry of Retired Servicemen Affairs.

The six councils include the Council of Aboriginal Affairs, Council for Hakka Affairs, the Overseas Chinese Affairs Commission and the Mainland Affairs Council, all of which already exist.

The two new councils will be the National Development Council and the Technology Council.

The two administrations are the Budget, Accounting and Statistics Administration and the Personnel Administration.

The four independent institutions are the central bank, the Fair Trade Commission and Consumer Protection Commission, all of which are already in existence and the Financial Supervisory Board.

To be able to establish the Financial Supervisory Board, the Cabinet will have to propose a draft bill governing the organizational structure of the board, because it is a brand-new entity. The Cabinet is scheduled to approve the board's organization decree on Wednesday.