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Official comes under fire for online competition

Personnel Administration chief Chen Ching-hsiu (陳清秀) said yesterday that he felt wronged after being criticized over the government’s efforts to launch an online competition aiming to solicit ideas from the public on what the government could do to improve the economy.

Chen made the remarks at a sporting event held for central government employees yesterday as he encouraged public servants to join the effort to lift the country’s economy.

CRITICISM

The online competition was launched by the Central Personnel Administration (CPA) on Sept. 12, but it soon came under criticism, with people saying the government was so incompetent that it had to ask the public for help in coming up with economic policies.

Commenting on the competition in PTT, a popular online bulletin board system, an Internet user called “freewash” said the country seemed to be governed by junior high school students and that it didn’t seem to have any measures to improve the economy.

BENEFICENCE

Defending the Web site, Chen yesterday said that proposing suggestions to the government was a form of beneficence and that those who participate in the competition would receive good things in return for their participation.

Participants whose suggestions are ranked in the top three will receive gift coupons valued at NT$5,000 each and another 20 will receive NT$1,000 gift coupons.

‘PLAYING GOD’

“Could it be said that there is no justice in the world? … There is a war between god and ghost. We have to play the role of god, [bringing the country] to the light,” Chen said in response to the criticism.

The competition has attracted more than a hundred messages during its first week, but many of them are so “creative” that the CPA had to remove them.

Among the suggestions, some said that the Cabinet should step down, while others suggested that Cabinet ministers work as volunteers or that there should be a floating salary pricing system for ministers, like the country’s floating oil pricing system.

Additional reporting by CNA
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