Yang Fumin/Is the era of locally created grass-roots public servants really coming? Possibility and dilemma seen from Mizuho case

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In 2019, the Executive Yuan declared it the first year of local birth, hoping that, like Japan, through grass-roots civil servants, they would also be able to turn places, open up new opportunities in rural areas, and respond to Taiwan's rural and urban problems. However, many people question whether the shortcomings related to the existing known democratic system can be avoided under a mechanism with township offices as the main sponsors. Can grass-roots civil servants break through the normality of local factions and political rewards, as well as the political situation of local township offices in Taiwan? If the head of the township government office supports it, how can the local creation policy meet the local needs and break through the plight of a small number of elites?

This year's case of Mizui Township Public Office in Hualien County combines community building with deliberative democracy as a preparatory work for their local creation, hoping to break through the plight of the public office and establish a partnership with the community. Their case this year is worthy of our reflection.

The issue of Local extermination behind Local creation / Photography the Local creation in Li Guohao's "pitching duel"

Zhong Yalin, head of the civil affairs department of Mizuho Township Office, and Pan Meiqi, a member of the civil administration class, are the protagonists of this case. They understand that as the first year of the local creation policy, the most important thing is not to immediately plan the proposal and put forward the local creation policy to the central government. Instead, they began to refocus on community building associations in villages and towns. Pan Meiqi believes: "if the local creation policy is intended to solve local problems, then the overall construction of the community over the past 25 years, the accumulated community energy and local awareness will be the outpost of local creation."... " .

There is a reason for this remark. The positive significance of community building, which was proposed in 1993, is to deliberately bypass the township public office. its positive significance is to expect the social construction policy to avoid facing the township public office as a "behemoth" based on public opinion at the initial stage. Make each community association become a puppet under the operation of the township government. Its negative significance is that township offices as a local organ of self-government, frankly speaking, ── means that the central organs have nothing to do with it, so it is simply expected that the energy of the people can make up for the delays and procedures of the public organs, and really suit the local practice.

After 25 years of social construction, township offices have become an ambiguous and awkward role in the overall construction of the community, and many communities turn a blind eye to it and automatically make a detour. In the long run, once the practice of the overall construction of the community is faced with the public organs and policies in villages and towns, it will inevitably lead to problems such as constraints, or the relevant local practice work has not been promoted as a whole.

How to create a local "life" in a community that has accumulated local energy for 25 years? (photo courtesy of / cattle plough Association

Before the local creation policy was put forward, in the social creation policy, the Ministry of Culture actively looked back to solve the problems between township public offices and communities through the "administrative community creation". However, regardless of the social development capacity of public institutions and the promotion benefits of administrative socialization, in the first year of local birth, the National Development Commission flagrantly used township offices as the sponsors, forcing the interaction between the public offices and the community to some extent.

Some commentators believe that in the process of local creation, the community and the public office will be in a situation like a "pitching duel", alternately standing on the mound and pitching mound; so in a series of offensive and defensive battles between the township public office and the community, watch the other side throw the "long photo" ball, the "idle space" ball, the "local employment" ball ⋯⋯, and how the other side should swing (occasionally "foreign aid" enters the court). The residents will see whether the two sides can really abandon the victory or defeat in such a showdown and present a game for each other to rekindle the enthusiasm of the fans.

The Hualien Forest District Management Office also promotes the work of administrative socialization through the "community forestry" program. (photo courtesy of / cattle plough Association)

But Mizuho Township Office, they did not choose to put each other on the pitching mound and mat, they looked for another possibility in the practice of the community and the public place.

To deliberate democracy and combine community construction with local creation

In April this year, the Hualien County Culture Bureau's selection report for the third phase of community building. Long Zhong Yalin and Pan Meiqi reported on the stage. They said frankly: although the Ministry of Culture has advocated deliberative democracy in recent years, it hopes to help public organs avoid falling into the problems of "majority decision" and "oligarchy" in the democratic system. However, in the first year of local birth, what they expect more is that, through deliberative democracy, township governments must be forced to hear the voices of the community, and at the same time, the community will abandon the original village as the boundary, and rethink local issues in terms of "township" or expanding to the scope of cultural life.

In the past, few township offices were willing to listen to local voices through deliberative democracy, because once the voices of the people were recorded through words, meetings, and so on, it was necessary for them to solve the problems raised by the people. Most public servants and agencies do not "make trouble" for themselves. However, the Mizui Township Office acted in the opposite direction, which surprised both the committee members present at that time and the Hualien Culture Bureau.

When asked why, Pan Meiqi's answer is worth thinking about: "if the local creation policy is faced with local unavoidable problems, civil servants are asked to sit in their offices thinking about what to mention, while worrying about failure." at the same time, he is afraid of questions from representatives of public opinion or congressmen, so why not let the public directly tell us what to do?. If it is really unfortunate, the final content does not reach what we imagined. That doesn't matter. We share the responsibility and discuss with the people. Even if we fail again, where can we fail? " .