Reshuffle the Cabinet: Create an Effective Team

Reshuffle the Cabinet: Create an Effective Team
China Times News editorial (Taipei, Taiwan, ROC)
A Translation
May 11, 2010

Mayoral elections for the five directly administered municipalities will be held at the end of the year. The KMT will complete its nomination process in May. Executive Yuan Vice President Eric Chu will enter the Xinbei City mayoral race, necessitating a cabinet reshuffle. Wu Den-yih stepped in as premier last September admidst a political crisis. The cabinet was then reshuffled one job at a time. Now however is a good time to review the cabinet's record and make personnel changes that will increase the effectiveness of cabinet as a team.
President Ma and DPP Chairman Tsai Ing-wen recently debated ECFA. The Committee for Economic Planning and Development immediately recommended responses to changes in the global economic picture and the signing of ECFA. It recommended drawing up a 10 year plan for the nation's future. It hopes to improve the nation's competitiveness. As one can imagine such plans require a strong administrative team. Socially it must deal with low birth rates, an aging population, inadequate care for the aged, and growing unemployment. Environmentally it must conserve energy and reduce our carbon footprint. These require green manufacturing and green job strategies. These are not goals that bureaucrats who go purely by the book can hope to achieve.

Last year Wu Dun-yi was appointed premier. The Ma administration had barely recovered from the global financial crisis when Typhoon Morakot struck. Premier Wu was in no position to throw open the doors to new appointees. He had to retain many original Ma/Liu team members. The administration's setback made it difficult to attract talent. Wu Dun-yi was forced to deal with this embarrassing situation. Cabinet appointees failed to meet outside expectations. They failed to impress the public. They failed even to form anything that could properly be termed a team. New cabinet members may stay on, or they may leave. But most are unfamilar with Premier Wu's political policies and political style. Over the past half year, a number of controversies and incidents have arisen, mostly for this reason.

When Premier Wu was interviewed recently, he praised the performance of the cabinet as "not bad overall." He said if anything was wrong with the cabinet, it was inadequate horizontal coordination. Some cabinet members came up short. His remarks were subtle. Put plainly, what he said was that the team lacked team awareness and overall effectiveness. Premier Wu praised Director of Health Yang Chi-liang, who proposed raising health insurance premiums, as "loyal and righteous." He praised Minister of Justice Wang Ching-feng, who provoked controversy by demanding the abolition of the death penalty as "heroic and intense." As we can see, Premier Wu has abundant political experience. He can tolerate dissent. He must however demand that cabinet members "keep the peoples' hopes aspirations close to their hearts."

Instead of asking cabinet members close to Premier Wu to be patient, it would be better to ask them to "enhance their capabilities." Therefore no government official can complain that the premier is too domineering and denying them an opportunity to shine. Instead, they must ask why have the agencies they head become mute. There is no lack of future stars among current KMT cabinet members. They include individuals with squeaky clean images and political family heirs. But most of them become invisible upon accepting appointments as agency heads. CEPD Chief Chen Tian-chi, a Premier Liu era appointee, was a long time advocate for the Executive Yuan's policies. But what has he advocated on behalf of the Council for Economic Planning and Development? Carbon reduction is currently a hot issue. Does the CEPD have any concrete plans for carbon reduction?

Premier Wu is fully capable of defending his policies. But Premier Wu is only one person. He can speak out in the Executive Yuan, the Legislative Yuan, or for two or three minutes when the media collars him in the street. At other times he must be responsible for policy planning and policy implementation. He cannot stand on the front lines explaining the administration's policy details.

The public knows that Premier Wu is is politically isolated. He has long experience in party and government affairs. But he has never had his own followers or even his own team. The current cabinet consists of number of different elements. It includes former members of Ma Ying-jeou's staff when he was Taipei Mayor. It includes former KMT Think Tank heads from when the party was out of power. It includes a number of professionals from the private sector. Minor changes to the cabinet were made following Typhoon Morakot, reducing the percentage of scholars and experts in the Cabinet and increasing the role of the KMT Think Tank. But the Kuomintang was out of power for eight years. Heads of the KMT Think Tank are all political appointees from when the party was still in power. They may be capable, but they defer to their elders. Even those who refuse to defer to their elders, must train talent for the government and the nation. Former members of Ma Ying-jeou's mayoral staff include some who are qualified to serve at the central government level, and some who are not. After two years, it should be clear who's who. We trust President Ma will not insist on retaining those not qualified just for old times sake.

The current reshuffling will impact officials as high as Yuan vice presidents. The public expects Yuan vice presidents to play an important role in reinvigorating the financial sector. Premier Wu himself is highly capable politically. What he needs is assistance from financial professionals. This will increase public support for the administration. Changes in minor cabinet officials are urgent. The Ma administration has been in office for two years. Its approval rating has plummeted from its zenith to its nadir. The Ma administration can no longer drag its feet. Forget the five year end mayoral elections for directly administered muncipalities. Forget the 2019 presidential election. Think only of how to create a forceful and effective team that can get things done and leave behind a legacy of achievements for the nation and society.

中時電子報 新聞
中國時報 　2010.05.11
社論－內閣改組 打造一個能做事的堅強團隊
本報訊

五月，國民黨即將完成年底五都選舉提名，伴隨行政院副院長朱立倫投入新北市長選舉而來的內閣改組，勢在必行，就去年九月臨危受命，接任行政院長的吳敦義而言，與其一個蘿蔔一個坑，填洞式的改組，不妨將這次改組視為檢視內閣團隊整體績效的好時機，透過人事調整組成能發揮整體戰力的「團隊」。

馬總統與民進黨主席蔡英文ＥＣＦＡ辯論後，經建會旋即提出因應全球經濟版圖位移與ＥＣＦＡ洽簽後的情勢，研擬規畫國家十年願景計畫，期能提升競爭力。可以想見，這樣的規畫，勢必需要一個堅強有力的行政團隊，社會面包括少子化、人口老化、安養及就業等，環境面則因節能減碳趨勢，涉及綠色生產、綠色工作等發展策略，這些都不是墨守成規的政務官所能執行達成的。

吳揆去年接任，時值馬政府才從全球金融海嘯的風暴中喘口氣，卻又面臨莫拉克風災的重襲，無可諱言，吳揆用人不宜大開大闔，必須在兼顧馬、劉原有班底外，尚須面對政府重挫後，人才難覓的窘境，若干部會的調整不如外界的期待，非但不能一新國人耳目，甚至還很難稱得上是「團隊」。不論留任或新任閣員，對吳揆的政策理念或政治手腕，若非不熟悉就是很陌生，在這半年多時間中，發生若干爭議事件，大多數都與此有關。

吳揆在接受媒體訪問時，稱許內閣表現大體不壞，如果有錯，錯在橫向連繫不足，閣員有人少根筋，這段表白說得很含蓄，用白話文直接講就是缺乏團隊意識下的整體戰力。吳揆稱許為了調漲健保費的衛生署長楊志良是「忠肝義膽」，引爆廢死爭議的前法務部長王清峰是「壯懷激烈」，可以看出吳揆確實是政治歷練豐富之人，他可以接受與他意見不一之人，卻必須要求閣員「民之所欲，長在我心」。

在這樣的前提下，與其要求閣員在吳揆身旁動心忍性，不如要求閣員「增益其所不能」。因此，任何沒有表現的政務官不能抱怨院長太強，讓他們沒有曝光機會，而是要反省為什麼自己主持的部會，竟成為消音單位？目前閣員中其實不乏國民黨內明日之星，也有形象清新的政治世家第二代，但他們多數在擔任首長後不久全部消音，成了隱形人；例如理應是熱衙門的經建會表現如何，劉內閣時代的經建會主委陳添枝經常是行政院重大政策的辯護者，如今的經建會辯護過什麼？即使今年以來最熱門的節能減碳，也沒人了解經建會有沒有具體規畫，方案是什麼？

吳揆確實擁有政策辯護的能力，但吳揆終究只是一個人，能講的話充其量就是行政院會、立法院會、或者臨路被媒體堵著開口兩、三分鐘，在這些時間之外呢？負責政策規畫與執行的部會，責無旁貸必須站在第一線說明政策方向。

眾所皆知，吳揆是政壇孤鳥，即使黨政職務歷練豐富，他從沒有自己人，遑論班底，眼前的政府團隊，包含幾種元素：舊日馬市府成員、國民黨在野時期智庫主將、少數社會專業人士，莫拉克風災後的微調，讓內閣學者專家比例降低，智庫角色加重，但國民黨在野八年，智庫主將都是國民黨在野前的政務官，人再幹練也得服老，即使不服老都要為政府、為國家培養人才；舊日馬市府成員有適任中央政務官者，也有不適任者，適任與否經過兩年考驗，應該可以公評，相信馬總統也不會因為舊日僚屬之情，硬要留下不適任者。

這次改組，最高職務已達副院長，而副院長又是民意期待在財經產業發展這個領域，應發揮統合戰力的重要職務，吳揆本身政治能力極強，更需財經專業的助力，強化民意認同，財經小內閣的調整刻不容緩，馬政府到位兩年，聲望從最高到谷底，沒有時間再讓馬政府蹉跎，不必考慮年底五都選舉、不必多慮二 ○一二年總統大選，如今唯一能想的事就是為台灣謀定一個有整合戰力、能大魄力做事的團隊，為國家社會留下一點建設的成績和資產。