President Ma Ying-jeou and Vice President Vincent C. Siew invited the presidents, vice presidents and secretaries-general of the five Yuan (i.e. the five branches of the ROC government—Executive Yuan, Legislative Yuan, Judicial Yuan, Examination Yuan, and Control Yuan) to the Presidential Office Building on the evening of March 1 for a reception. The president exchanged opinions with the officials on a broad range of topics, including the government's policy to promote the "Golden Decade for Taiwan" vision, judicial reform, civil service reform, and protection of human rights.
In remarks at the gathering, the president stated that after the presidential election on January 14, he spent the Lunar New Year holiday at home examining the problems that have occurred in promoting various policies in the past. On January 31, the Cabinet resigned en masse and a new line-up of Cabinet officials was immediately unveiled. The handover between the two cabinets took place on February 6, following which the Council for Economic Planning and Development was put in charge of reviewing the various policies associated with the Golden Decade initiative.
President Ma stated that in December last year an economic task force was created to monitor the European debt crisis and watch for any impact on Taiwan's stock market, exchange rates, and domestic prices. The latest data released by the Executive Yuan's Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) show that Taiwan's unemployment rate stood at 4.18% in January 2012, and the consumer price index rose by 1.42% from 2010 to 2011. Meanwhile, the DGBAS has lowered its forecast for economic growth this year to 3.85%. Even though the DGBAS expects the economy to begin a gradual recovery this year and that some categories within the consumer confidence index are showing signs of pick-up, Taiwan's economy still has not fully recovered from recession, so the government will continue to pay close attention to the situation.
President Ma also asked the Legislative Yuan to continue to support legislation that focuses on restructuring of the government that hadn't been passed by the end of the previous legislative session. He particularly mentioned proposed amendments to the Organization Act of the Ministry of National Defense and legislation that would corporatize the Chung-shan Institute of Science & Technology. These changes will be critical to the establishment of an all-volunteer army. Generally speaking, the president said, he hopes that all work associated with restructuring of the Executive Yuan will be completed by January 1 of next year.
Turning to judicial reform, the president mentioned that on February 9 of this year he met with representatives from the Action Alliance of Judges to Reform the Supreme Court. Since that meeting, he has hoped to promote reform of the "confidential case-assignment" system at the Supreme Court so that cases can be assigned to judges transparently, as is currently done in Taiwan's courts of first instance (district court) and second instance (high court). President Ma noted that the Judicial Yuan is working to promote this reform. In the meanwhile, the Judicial Yuan this year will begin promoting a "lay judge system," which will mark an important milestone in the reform of our judicial system. President Ma expressed his belief that judicial reform should be carried out in a stable manner to avoid unnecessary confrontation and misunderstandings. At the same time, officials must uphold the spirit of "justice is for the people" and pay attention to how the public perceives what is happening.
As for civil service reform, President Ma stated that Examination Yuan President Kuan Chung (關中) has particular insights on how the government can make better use of human resources and build a better system of testing and training for high-level civil servants. At the same time, the staff of the Examination Yuan has actively sought to understand the needs of local government agencies. The president praised the Examination Yuan for the outstanding work it has done.
President Ma also explained efforts by the government to protect human rights since he took office in May 2008. For instance, two years ago he signed the instruments of ratification for two international human rights covenants, and launched a project to amend any provisions in domestic law that contravened either of the two covenants. In addition, the president pointed out that the Office of the President's Human Rights Consultative Committee will soon produce Taiwan’s first national human rights report. The president expressed his hopes that this will help further bring human rights safeguards in Taiwan up to international standards.
President Ma emphasized that his objective in his first four years of office was to "undo the mistakes of the past and catch up with the rest of the world," and in his second four years he will seek to "remake Taiwan and pursue excellence." In fact, the president said, quite a few reform policies were implemented in his first term, including: the launch of a national pension system and a labor insurance pension system; amendments to the Public Assistance Act, the Act Governing the Military Service System, the three major labor laws, and the Local Government Act passage of the Act for Industrial Innovation; promoting central government restructuring; and institution of the "specifically selected goods and services tax." The president said that in his second term, he will push forward with rationalization of the tax code and expansion of social welfare. In particular, he wants to see that more attention is paid to the needs of indigenous people. At present, members of indigenous tribes receive free tuition and subsidies for living expenses from the age of five until they graduate high school. As for education at the university level, two-thirds of their tuition expenses are waived, thereby relieving the burden on students from these tribes. In the future, he said, the government will continue to provide even greater assistance to these individuals.
Government leaders attending the reception included Premier Sean C. Chen (陳冲), Legislative Yuan President Wang Jin-pyng (王金平), Judicial Yuan President Rai Hau-min (賴浩敏), Examinational Yuan President Kuan Chung, Control Yuan President Wang Chien-shien (王建煊), Vice Premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺), Legislative Yuan Vice President Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱), Judicial Yuan Vice President Su Yeong-chin (蘇永欽), Control Yuan Vice President Chen Jinn-lih (陳進利), Executive Yuan Secretary-General Lin Yi-shih (林益世), Legislative Yuan Secretary-General Lin Hsi-shan (林錫山), Judicial Yuan Secretary-General Jiin-fang Lin (林錦芳), Examination Yuan Secretary-General Hwang Yea-baang (黃雅榜), and Control Yuan Secretary-General Chen Feng-yi (陳豐義).