The government has been caught off guard by the resignation of more than 100 board members of state-owned enterprises and government-funded, non-profit organizations following changes to the Public Functionary Assets Disclosure Law (公職人員財產申報法).
Under the amended law, government-appointed board directors and supervisors of state-owned enterprises and government-subsidized organizations are required to declare their assets. This requirement also applies to spouses of the board members in question.
When the legislature first mulled an amendment to the assets disclosure law two years ago, it was driven by the fervent anti-corruption campaign against former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), his wife Wu Shu-jen (吳淑珍) and his closest aides.
Following months of negotiations, the final version of the draft amendment expanded the scope of assets disclosure to include the aforementioned positions, in addition to senior government officials and elected local government heads. The amendments cleared the legislative floor in March last year.
On the surface, the change was motivated by a bipartisan desire to encourage clean politics.
Beneath the surface, however, it was mutual distrust between the ruling and opposition parties and their attacks on one another that produced the amendment. Among its goals was preventing the Democratic Progressive Party from naming its own people as representatives in the boardroom.
What lawmakers did not take into account was the number of government representatives in the boardroom who would be unwilling to declare their assets, especially businesspeople concerned for their safety.
Based on Ministry of Justice tallies, around 1,200 government-appointed board members at state-run banks, state-owned enterprises and non-profit organizations under the supervision of the Ministry of Economic Affairs, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Transportation and Communications must disclose their assets and those of their spouses.
But the Ministry of Economic Affairs, for example, now faces a situation in which up to 115, or 20 percent, of 556 government-appointed board members have tendered their resignations.
Take the Industrial Technology Research Institute, often dubbed the cradle of the nation’s high-tech industry. Half of its 14 board seats are now empty.
From now on, when the government hires professionals from the private sector — not an easy task in a partisan political environment — to oversee state businesses, the issue of personal safety needs to be considered together with competence and integrity.
Even so, government-appointed board members should not be exempt from declaring their assets. They represent the state in overseeing the operations of state enterprises and non-profit organizations, which are funded by taxpayers.
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislative caucus is proposing yet another amendment that would loosen previous restrictions and make a special deal for government-appointed board members.
There were legitimate reasons to amend the law last year, and there was strong support for the principle of building transparent and corruption-free government. This principle is now in danger of being compromised in the rush to accommodate individual sensibilities.
Lawmakers should bear in mind that the purpose of assets disclosure is eradicating corruption. Disclosure should not be imposed or relaxed simply in the interests of a minority of boardroom candidates. However difficult to fulfill, the interests of taxpayers and the goal of transparency in the boardrooms of state enterprises are paramount.
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