On Sept. 9, President Chen Shui-bian (
Looking at historical experience, reform committees organized by the Presidential Office have tended to be much more efficient than the those committees set up under the Executive Yuan's auspices. These precedents attest to the need for Chen's plan to control the reform effort himself.
Realistically speaking, it does take the direct intervention by a president or premier to coordinate the five branches of the central government, Cabinet agencies and local governments in order to fully implement reforms.
Where Chen's plan is troubling, however, is that the Cabinet's Research, Development and Evaluation Commission has proposed only a "partial" government reform, instead of a full-scale one. Full-scale reform would involve an overhaul of all government agencies; partial reform would involve a shake-up of certain Cabinet-level departments and agencies.
Can the government really improve its efficiency simply by reducing the 36 agencies under the Cabinet?
It should at least push for overall evaluations and reforms of the Legislative Yuan, the Judicial Yuan, the Examination Yuan and the Control Yuan, as well as local government.
There will inevitably be new problems for the government if central and local agencies' functions are not clearly defined as a result of a mere "partial" reform.
When promoting reforms in public administration, it is inappropriate to simply trim and merge agencies in order to reduce the number of public servants and increase government efficiency.
More importantly, evaluations of the importance of each agency should focus on the function of each one. A smaller government is not necessarily a more efficient one. If the government blindly strives to streamline itself, it risks giving rise to chaos.
A government is just like the human body. It is not good to go on a crash diet. Only by streamlining one's body shape according to each individual's needs can one's health be ensured.
The government also needs to look squarely at the issue of who will benefit from the reform. Will a streamlined government really benefit the public? Will the public receive better services? Can the goal of re-distribution of national resources be achieved? Can the income-gap between the poor and the rich be shortened?
These questions should not be ignored in the government's reform plan.
Since the ultimate mission of public administration is to serve the public, to seek its benefit, and to uphold social equity and justice, the government should consider the public interest as its top priority.
Perhaps Chen should invite community and non-governmental organization leaders to participate -- so that his reform committee will be able to hear the voices of both the authorities and the public.
Government reform has been discussed for years. It is exciting that Chen is willing to take action now.
Hopefully, the reform committee will come up with practical solutions and put them into practice -- so that talk of government reform will prove to be more than hot air, as has so often been the case in the past.
Chiang Min-hsiu is a professor of public administration at National Chengchi University. Yin Yi-chun is a secretary at the Taiwan Policy Institute Foundation.
Translated by Eddy Chang
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