By Shiao Fu-song 蕭福松
Not long ago, the former mayor of Hsinchu County’s Sinfong Township (新豐), Hsu Chiu-tze (許秋澤), was sentenced to seven years in prison by the Hsinchu District Court for accepting bribes to allow two residents to work for the township’s maintenance department, and for instructing his subordinates to aid a specific manufacturer in the township office’s procurement of medical masks. His criminal proceeds of NT$1 million (US$31,575) were confiscated. The ruling can be appealed.
Quite a few township mayors and elected officials across Taiwan have been prosecuted and sentenced for taking bribes or for obtaining fees fraudulently. They are mostly in the prime of their careers, and are entrusted by voters to fulfill their ideals. Unfortunately, because of greed, they have ruined their image and future. Was it worth it?
Local governments are charged with executing a wide range of tasks, with nearly every project related to public construction, welfare and the economy. In such circumstances, some dodgy elements use bribes, gifts, banquets and other means to sway local officials who have decisionmaking power or influence, gradually building a mutually beneficial relationship, which over time forms a pattern of collusion between government and business.
A local government official was once criticized for frequently authorizing the excavation of roads to install or repair pipes. When he asked for my advice, I suggested that he make a multiservice tunnel to run all pipelines through. He stared blankly, laughed and said: “I know that this can be done once and for all, but it would prevent many people from making money.”
Perhaps this is the main reason corruption is so difficult to eradicate.
Local officials find it difficult to get elected without being involved in factions, money, favors and connections. Once in power, they can control hiring and budgets. So if they are not upright and cannot rid themselves of the shackles of receiving personal favors or the temptation of money, it is unsurprising that they too might eventually be corrupted.
Taiwanese hate corruption not only because it is deleterious to government ethics and leads to wasting public resources, but also because it leads to poorly made projects that jeopardize people’s lives and properties.
Although every government agency has internal control mechanisms such as ethics and auditing offices, it is still not easy to prevent corruption, because the key to the problem does not lie in the legal system, but in human nature.
Nevertheless, under the rule of law, most corrupt officials cannot escape being caught in the end. Thus, corrupt politicians would ruin their reputation, and their efforts would be in vain when their criminal proceeds are confiscated.
The crackdown on corruption is only an afterthought, while the solution to the problem lies in the moral insistence on “rejecting corruption.” If elected officials could abide by the law and act fairly and honestly, they would be able to achieve great political outcomes and a clean government. If they abuse their influence to gain power and take advantage of that power to obtain money, they would bear the bitter fruits of their own doing.
Shiao Fu-song is a lecturer at National Taitung University.
Translated by Eddy Chang
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