Establishing a clean government and reforming the legislature are critical to enhancing administrative efficiency, participants at the Conference on Sustaining Taiwan's Economic Development said.
However, the proposed legislative reform was not included in the list of agreements reached at the Session on Enhancing Government Competitiveness as it was vetoed by Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng
The session was attended by a total of 198 academics, government and party officials, business groups and trade unions.
PHOTO: CHANG CHIA-MING, TAIPEI TIMES
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Huang Teh-fu (
"The legislature is now like a market. Everybody is negotiating for the best price and deal, but nothing is really going on," Huang said. "Since we are moving toward having half of the legislative seats eliminated, I think we should try to make the legislature a more efficient one as well."
Huang's proposal was echoed by Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Kuan Bi-ling (
However, Wang, who chaired the session's group discussions yesterday afternoon, said that any reform or reshuffle of the legislature had to be done in accordance with agreements and negotiations among different political parties.
Reforming the legislature would also involve many laws and regulations, which also require a lot of negotiations between different government bodies, he said.
"I think Legislator Huang's proposal is quite valuable, so I would suggest that we keep it as a reference if not an official proposal," Wang said.
Wang's recommendation was endorsed by other participants, who agreed to have Huang's proposal listed under "other opinions," which meant it would serve as advice for the government. Agreements reached at the conference were listed under "consensus," which meant they were to be implemented by the government.
National Policy Foundation convener Steve Hsieh (
"It is better than any kind of law," he said.
Duan Wei (
"Studies conducted by academic researchers show that less corruption could result in higher economic growth," Wei said.
"If Premier Su's [Tseng-chang's] efforts to get rid of corruption works, 5 percent economic growth next year is a reasonable target," he said.
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