If You can't control Corruption, How can You control Flooding?

If You can't control Corruption, How can You control Flooding?
United Daily News (Taipei, Taiwan, ROC)
A Translation
August 20, 2007

Typhoon Sepat has arrived. Fortunately its intensity has diminished. Also, strict measures in various locales have reduced the damage caused by the disaster. But the southern and central regions of the island have suffered repeated flood and wind damage. Many villages and towns have been devastated. Some victims say their world has been shattered. For Taiwan, typhoons are unavoidable natural disasters. But for certain regions, year after year of flooding is the result of man made disasters. When we address the problem of flooding, the important point is not flood control technology. To address the problem at its source, we must address the human factors.

This summer's floods in the southern and central regions were serious. Even before Typhoon Sepat struck, these regions had already become "Waterworld." From Yunlin and Chiayi, to Kaohsiung and Pingtung, no community escaped disaster. Even Kaohsiung City's Ai River overflowed. Flooding in Meinung was the worst in 50 years. Inhabitants said they had developed "flood phobia." One could say that the disaster was caused by torrential rains. But the amount of rainfall failed to break any records. Put simply, the drainage system in many places was inadequate, and essential flood control measures were not implemented. This is why many experts have come right out and declared that the disaster was man made, not natural.

President Chen Shui-bian, Prime Minister Chang Chun-hsiung, and other senior central government officials visited these rural disaster sites recently, promising to underwrite flood control measures. But the key to flood control isn't money. Last year the legislature passed the "Statute Governing Flood Management," with a budget of 1.16 billion NT. Every one of the counties and municipalities flooded this year received generous flood control funding. Yunlin County even declared 2007 its official "Flood Control Year." Obviously their flood control measures failed. So where did their flood control funds go?

Every dollar of the vast sums earmarked for flood control was hard-earned taxpayer money. Every step of the flood control process, from legislation to implementation, was riddled with selfish plunder by corrupt politicians. The Democratic Progressive Party's intitial proposal for its "Eight Year, 80 Billion" Flood Control budget was, as its name suggests, 80 billion. Last January, on the final day of the Legislative Yuan's extraordinary session, ruling and opposition party lawmakers upped the amount to over 110 billion NT. To people who had pinned their hopes on flood control, this was the Legislative Yuan's darkest day. Because these sorts of sweeheart deals, hammered out in smoke-filled rooms, were exactly what they were worried about. The lessons of history are right under our noses. Previous flood control budgets were often chopped up into scores of contracts, each under 1 million Yuan. This allowed them to get them around legal requirements mandating open bidding, and created a paradise for political patronage. As this paper noted at the time, how can one control river flooding by doling out contracts to scores of contractors, each with budget of 1 million NT ($30,000 US)?

The 30 billion NT budget for the first phase of this eight year flood control project was passed last July. The total sum is to be be raised by means of a bond issue. Local government flood control plans included the construction of pavilions, arched bridges, the renovation of nearby temples and their surroundings, the development of tourism, the clean up of garbage, and the beautification of farmlands. Much of their planning has nothing to do with flood control. Obviously no one is focused on flood control. Everyone is worried about getting a piece of the pie.

But the really big "sharks" within the construction industry only surfaced this month, when public prosecutors cast their dragnet. Chang Tzu-hou and Hou Ho-hsiung of the Ministry of Economic Affairs have been implicated in these "Eight year, 80 billion" flood control projects. In accordance with embezzlement laws they have been detained by public prosecutors. According to prosecutors, Hou Ho-hsiung abused his authority to grant sweetheart deals. First he demanded that the authorities award small 1 million NT ($30,000 US) contracts to scores of contractors. He then helped designated contractors make sweetheart deals. The provincial water supply company and the River Administration Bureau have been implicated in these cases. A year and half ago this newspaper asked how can one control flooding by doling out contracts to scores of contractors, each with budget of 1 million NT ($30,000 US)? Now, between this year's unusually serious floods in southern and central Taiwan and Hou Ho-hsiung's indictment, we have our answer.

The wind and rain arrived on August 18, in the early hours of the morning. Many victims were still up their necks in flood water at the time. Su Tseng-chang had just returned from the US. Frank Hsieh had just gone to the airport to greet him. Their meeting was for all intents and purposes the first political rally held by the Hsieh/Su ticket. Frank Hsieh took pains to stress that Su Tseng-chang's return to Taiwan was by no means for the sake of the election. It was to participate in collective prayer "for the people." It was to show that candidates of the Democratic Progressive Party "feel your pain." But ordinary people feeling the pain inflicted by the flood felt Hou Ho-hsiung and his ilk were to blame. They couldn't have failed to notice that Hou Ho-hsiung is Frank Hsieh's trusted subordinate. Hou was Hsieh's deputy mayor in Kaohsiung, and Hsieh recommended Hou for the position of Minister of Financial Affairs. Taiwan's frequent floods are caused by official corruption related to flood control projects. Su Tseng-chang and Frank Hsieh are both former prime ministers. The corruption occurred on their watch. Can they really escape responsibility for these man made disasters? Aren't high minded expressions of concern and pious participation in prayer activities, after the fact, more than a little ironic?

The typhoon season has provided the people with a way out. First one must address the problem of a political culture dominated by greed and corruption. Only then can one address the problem of flooding and govern the nation.

颱風省思：不治貪腐，如何治水？
【聯合報╱社論】
2007.08.20 06:05 am

颱風聖帕來襲，所幸強度略為減弱，加上各地嚴密的防颱措施，使災情儘可能地降低。不過，中南部地區歷經接二連三的水患及風災，許多鄉鎮飽受蹂躪，有人甚至以「國在山河破」形容其慘狀。台灣受到颱風侵襲，乃難以避免之天災；但部分地區連年來遇水成災，卻多半由於人禍所致。颱風季節談治水問題，重點不只在工程技術層面；正本清源，必須探究其中的人謀不臧。

今夏的中南部地區水患嚴重，早在聖帕來襲之前即已淹成水鄉澤國，從雲嘉到高屏，無一倖免。高雄市連愛河都氾濫，美濃的淹水程度則稱五十年來最嚴重，居民紛紛說「淹怕了」。雖說因豪雨而成災，卻又並未見降雨量創紀錄；簡單地說，還是很多地方的排水系統不良，及河川疏濬工程該做而沒做所致。這就是很多專家直指的水災「人禍」成因。

總統陳水扁、行政院長張俊雄等中央高官，近日紛紛下鄉訪視災情，並承諾負擔治水經費等等。不過，治水的關鍵問題不在沒錢。「水患治理特別條例」去年才由立法院通過，規模高達一千一百六十億元，今年大淹水的這些地方縣市，沒有一個不曾分到相當的治水經費。雲林縣甚且將今年二○○七年標舉為「治水元年」。但顯然，治水尚未成功，大筆的治水經費用到哪裡去了？

巨額的治水特別預算，沒有一塊錢不是人民的血汗錢；但從編製到執行過程，沒有一個環節不見充滿了政客的掠奪私心。去年一月，立法院臨時會的最後一天，朝野立委聯手將民進黨最初提出的「八年八百億」治水預算加碼到一千一百多億元。在人民對治水期盼殷切之下，輿論卻稱這是立法院「最黑暗的一天」，因為擔心就此開啟治水工程「切段發包，密室分贓」的效果。殷鑑不遠，早先的治水預算往往被切割成工程金額在一百萬元以下，以規避公開招標，結果成了綁樁和圖利的天堂。「一條河被切割成無數個百萬元以下的工程，分別發包出去，如何達成治水效果？」本報當時的新聞稿中這樣追問。

這筆八年治水經費當中的第一期三百多億元預算，在去年七月通過，全數以舉債方式支應。而當時各地方政府提報的治水方案，已見建造涼亭拱橋、整治廟宇周邊環境、配合發展觀光、農場垃圾場美化工程等與治水全然無關的規畫設計；顯然覬覦經費大餅、等待分食者已眾。

不過，真正大尾的所謂「工程鯊魚」，直到本月份才在檢調追查下現身。經濟部常次侯和雄涉嫌介入這八年千億的多筆治水工程，依貪汙治罪條例遭檢方聲押。根據檢方的說明，侯和雄圖利的手段乃利用職權，先是要求所屬單位將發包工程切割在百萬元以下，再協助特定廠商綁標，涉及弊案包括省自來水公司及河川局等多項計畫。本報一年半前即已追問「一條河被切割成無數個百萬元以下的工程，分別發包出去，如何達成治水效果？」的問題，在今年異常嚴重的中南部水患及侯和雄涉嫌貪汙的事實中，得到了答案！

風雨交加的八月十八日清晨，很多水患地區民眾仍身陷「水深火熱」的災情之時，蘇貞昌自美返台，謝長廷親往機場迎接，等於是謝蘇配的第一場造勢。謝長廷並特意強調，蘇貞昌返台並非專為選舉，還要參加很多（為民）祈福活動；以凸顯民進黨候選人關懷民間疾苦之意。但舉凡受水患之苦而認為應咎責於侯和雄等人的老百姓，不會不注意到，侯和雄乃謝長廷親信，從高雄市副市長而後受謝拔擢為經濟部常次的事實。對於台灣地區出於人禍的頻繁水患，前後任行政院長並任用貪官治水的蘇、謝等人豈能無責？事後再高調表示關切災情，積極參與祈福活動，難道不是更顯諷刺？

颱風季節為民祝禱：先治貪腐分贓的政治風氣，才能治水治國。