President Chen Shui-bian (
Chen made the pledge yesterday at the first meeting of the Government Reconstruction Committee, a 25-member group consisting of Cabinet officials, academics and business leaders that plans to tackle the issue of government reform.
"The people of this country will be the final judge," said Chen, who chaired the committee meeting yesterday. "We expect everyone to participate in the government reconstruction movement and jointly shoulder the responsibility."
The committee plans to discuss the Cabinet's proposal for slimming down the government -- a goal Chen promised to carry out during last year's presidential campaign.
The proposal -- put forth by the Cabinet's Research, Development and Evaluation Commission -- envisions an Executive Yuan with just 21 ministries and four "special administrative" organizations, down from 36 ministries today.
According to Lin Chia-cheng (林嘉誠), the commission's chairman, some of the ministries will be combined into a larger organization, while others will be eliminated altogether.
Kuo Yao-chi (
"But the president stressed that the government should take public expectations into mind rather than just an individual department's needs," Kuo said.
Chen said during yesterday's committee meeting that any reform proposal put forth by the group should be supported and implemented by all of the government's ministries, with disregard to an individual agency's interest. He said that a ministry's differing point of view should not be allowed to obstruct the work and progress of reform.
The president also said that reform of the government should be extended to the local level and reach other branches of the government -- especially the Legislative Yuan.
"There's the question of whether our country should operate under a presidential system or a Cabinet system," Chen said. "And the problem of what is the relationship between the president, the Cabinet and the legislature is a major issue that the public has discussed for a long time."
The president also urged the Cabinet to revise laws and regulations related to the government's hiring practices to attract more talented people into government service.
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