Anyone looking for an example of how not to practice administrative neutrality could do worse than to look to the Taipei City Government.
The city staged an extravagant, six-hour New Year's Eve party in front of Taipei City Hall at a cost of NT$20 million (US$630,900). No doubt, the splendid party, attended by A-list singers and capped by a magnificent fireworks display at Taipei 101, boosted the capital's visibility among global TV viewers.
However, before the countdown started, a "mystery guest" appeared on stage: the Chinese Nationalist Party's (KMT) presidential hopeful Ma Ying-jeou (
Earlier this month, Ma accompanied Hau in making the rounds to thank city police officers and staffers for working on Lunar New Year's Eve. When asked by the media whether the city government had violated administrative neutrality in inviting Ma, the KMT candidate said he was there in his capacity as "an old friend," and not to canvass votes.
Ma is not the only KMT candidate who has appeared with the mayor. Hau also invited KMT vice presidential candidate Vincent Siew (
It's disturbing that Hau has taken advantage of many of the capital's activities to serve his partisan interests. And Ma, who strongly advocated administrative neutrality during his tenure as Taipei mayor, has fallen short of his own standards once more.
President Chen Shui-bian (
But the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is equally guilty of partisanship. DPP presidential candidate Frank Hsieh (
Such brazen displays of partisanship highlight the lack of a legal precedent to clearly define and enforce administrative neutrality. Maybe neither the candidates nor the officials are to blame, for at the root of the problem is the lack of a law to regulate interaction between candidates, officials and local government-sponsored activities.
With the new legislative session beginning today, what better time -- less than 30 days before the presidential election -- to deliberate and pass an executive proposal on promoting administrative neutrality for civil servants?
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