Both the ruling and the opposition camps have walked a rocky road since the nation's first transfer of power. Still, Taiwan must go forward. Not only does the ruling camp have to overcome difficulties brought by the transition, but the opposition camp has to learn what democratic politics really are. In view of recent developments, the next two years will be a time of initiating reform.
Since President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) will serve concurrently as DPP chairman, his leadership style and personal characteristics will significantly influence future political development. In addition, government decision-making mechanisms and organizational efficiency will surely determine his success in the years to come.
It's already a done deal that the president will serve concurrently as DPP chairman with former premier Chang Chun-hsiung (張俊雄) as party secretary-general. It's still too early to predict the results of this so-called "synchronization of the party and the administration." However, there should be some fundamental regulations controlling such a leadership.
Since it would be very easy for Chen to monopolize all powers after seizing the chairman's seat, it is necessary to exclude the possibility of an authoritarian rule. Although Chen himself is pretty confident, it is a new political operation involving various factors both inside and outside the party. The leadership must firmly stand by the spirit of democracy while cautiously dealing with the issue.
To be specific, how should the president's decisions be weighted when he is also serving as party chairman? How can the party's Central Standing Committee effectively participate in the
decision-making process? How will the party maintain its diversity, and how will the DPP legislative caucus maintain its auto-nomy? These concerns need to be cleared and regulated by building a new democratic system.
In terms of decision-making mechanisms, how can the president's decisions be made in accordance with the law while the chairman's decisions are made in accordance with the DPP platform? In terms of government decision-making, the Presidential Office's legally-defined powers rarely involve making national policy.
Nevertheless, the Cabinet usually makes decisions with help of the Presidential Office or by holding meetings outside the government system -- such as the Eco-nomic Development Advisory Conference. Sometimes it also establishes various advisory groups -- such as the Government Reform Committee, the Cross-Party Task Force on Cross-Strait Affairs and the Consultative Committee on Science and Technology.
The effectiveness of decisions and suggestions made by these meetings or groups needs to be thoroughly evaluated. No ideal decision can be made without sufficient professional research and preparation. During the decision-making process, these meetings or groups must include voices from all sides.
For example, the government reform plan is solely drawn up by the Government Reform Committee under the Presidential Office. Obviously, the committee needs to take in opinions from all sides in order to make appropriate adjustments to its plans.
As the party and the administration will be synchronized in the near future, the decision-making model between the Presidential Office, the Executive Yuan, the Legislative Yuan and the ruling party needs to be planned in advance. For this part, an authoritarian mode of decision-making should be avoided.
It seems that most of the government's flawed decisions result from excessive political tactics of presidential aides. These decisions are also "black-box operations" that have seriously damaged the government's image and social justice.
Also, following the practice of the former KMT government, the Presidential Office has appointed 30 senior presidential advisers, 88 national policy advisers and 32 presidential advisers. The sense of political appointments or rewards by far exceed the real function of these posts.
The recent threat of resignation from Liu Hsia (劉俠), founder of the Eden Social Welfare Foundation (伊甸社會福利基金會) serves as a warning. The appointment of advisers should be reconsidered based on systematic and functional concerns in order to best fulfill substantial advisory functions.
Decision-making mechanisms within the Executive Yuan and other government agencies are even more important. Due to the transition of power two years ago, however, I've heard that some decision-making mechanisms are almost paralyzed now. In the next two years, it will be necessary to strengthen the effectiveness of the government's decision-making mechanisms, since they are the roots of national administration.
In terms of organizational efficiency, a bureaucratic government organization is essentially huge and inefficient. In addition, the DPP government has faced new problems after it came to power. For example, the government leadership has experienced some cooperation difficulties with the organization as a whole.
Also, after the downsizing of the Taiwan Provincial Government, provincial level agencies have either been cancelled or replaced by some local offices. Since the provincial government's function as a coordinating and buffering layer has disappeared, local and central governments have to directly deal with one another.
On the one hand, the central government may be incapable of fully understanding and handling the situation. On the other hand, local governments may have their own stances and have to take their own interests into account. This will cause difficulties for government coordination and problem solving. In response, the government should look into the above problems in order to come up with overall strategies.
The success of the government's performance lies in decision-making mechanisms and organizational efficiency. There should be an overall mechanism for evaluating policy effectiveness and government efficiency -- so that they can be constantly improved.
The government's performance in the next two years will influence the 2004 presidential election. But more importantly, this is a turning point in the overall development of Taiwan. Those in power should actively promote government reform to bring real hope for Taiwan's development.
Chiu Hei-yuan is a research fellow of the Institute of Sociology at the Academia Sinica.
TRANSLATED BY EDDY CHANG
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