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How serious is Ma about reform?
By Cheng Yun-peng 鄭運鵬
Saturday, Mar 27, 2010, Page 8
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) has opened up a real can of worms with health
insurance premiums increases and the civil service performance appraisal
reforms, so much so that we must conclude that he either took on much more than
he bargained for, or he is genuinely serious about reform. These issues have
been around for some time now: The health insurance premium has been a
contentious issue since its inception and the efficiency of the civil service
has slowly declined ever since the establishment of the Republic.
That Ma is willing to tackle these issues head-on is to be applauded and the
opposition should not put up roadblocks.
However, it does appear the government is going to settle for minor structural
changes that are unlikely to get to the root of the problem. As long as the
public is behind it and the president has the resolve to carry it through, it
would be far better to overhaul the system completely rather than mess around
with temporary stop-gap measures.
Let’s first look at proposed changes in the health insurance premium. The reason
Department of Health Minister Yaung Chih-liang’s (楊志良) resignation was turned
down two weeks ago was not because the temporary plan he offered goes in the
right direction, but rather because the president had already endorsed
second-generation health insurance reform.
The drama surrounding Yaung’s shock resignation announcement brought to the
public’s attention just how unfair it was to base the first generation of health
insurance premiums on an individual’s salary, which resulted in unprecedented
support for the second generation of health insurance premiums based on
household income. Ma has made it clear that these new reforms are to be
implemented within two years and he wanted Yaung to remain in his position so
that he can guide the reforms through in the current term.
It is worth asking why, if the government has to find NT$100 million (US$3.1
million) to finance its temporary plan and will implement second-generation
reform within the next two years, Ma does not pull together the KMT’s
legislative caucuses and push more permanent reform through now. What is the
point of having to make two changes to the system in as many years?
Moving on to the civil servants’ performance evaluation reforms, the crux of the
problem is that modern governments simply do not need the number of civil
servants that they used to, and it is currently all but impossible to get rid of
those that do not pull their weight.
The actual percentage of civil servants relegated to grades C or D is not really
the point. Does anyone believe that the debate currently raging between the
Examination Yuan, the government and the legislature has anything to do with
percentages? The Examination Yuan has proposed that those evaluated as being in
the bottom 3 percent should be placed in grade C, and three consecutive years in
this grade would mean dismissal.
But isn’t this exactly the same as the current, admittedly draconian system, in
which those who finish bottom take turns in a game of Russian roulette to see
who stays and who goes?
It seems that the Examination Yuan’s proposal simply follows the same logic, the
one small difference being that it specifies a percentage bound for grade C.
There is no reason to suppose that this is going to stop civil servants gaming
the system any more than in the past, and it is therefore difficult to see how
this will achieve the objectives of the reforms that Ma or the Examination Yuan
want to introduce. I’m sure this will be found to be the case if the new system
is put to the test.
This proposal, then, is a halfhearted measure unlikely to get past Premier Wu
Den-yih (吳敦義). If we are going to have a second-generation civil service hiring
structure, the Examination Yuan will have to be more ambitious and go for more
sweeping measures.
First, the government should decide how many civil servants it needs to staff a
modern government machine at all levels, and how much it needs to downsize on a
year-by-year basis. This will avoid the rather negative state of affairs where
the bottom three percent are penalized instead of offering rewards for
excellence. The cutbacks would create savings on salaries paid, and these could
be used to hold on to outstanding staff, reward excellence and discourage
corruption.
Finally, the same hiring policy should apply to all new recruits, but existing
staff can be put on higher salaries or long-term contract policies, the first
contract being for seven years, the second for five years, with progressively
shorter terms thereafter. The chief merit of this approach is that it ensures
the government is not stuck with incompetent civil servants who try to get away
with doing precious little.
Taiwan has a number of institutional shortcomings that have worsened over the
past few decades, and these are now becoming more pronounced.
When the Democratic Progressive Party was in power it could at least claim to be
fighting systemic inertia with the additional handicap of a holding a minority
of seats in the legislature. With Ma’s majority he can hardly shirk from doing
something to fix the situation.
Taiwan today is crying out for answers to its problems, and Ma needs to shake
things up if he is going to win a second term in office. This is his chance to
undertake serious reforms. It is no time to be beating around the bush, casting
around for ways to patch things up. He needs to take the bull by the horns and
undertake a complete overhaul, with the support of the people.
Of course, if his apparent zeal for reform turns out to be nothing but a cynical
election ploy, that is another thing entirely.
Cheng Yun-peng is a former Democratic Progressive Party
legislator.
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