Grassroots voices for guiding governance

On Sunday last week, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator and Taipei mayoral candidate Puma Shen (沈伯洋) said that, if elected, he would hold soapbox sessions called “Mayor, I can’t do it anymore” (市長，我不想幹了) to listen to frontline civil servants and teachers talk about the difficulties they face at work.

The idea draws from his campaign trail soapbox events and platform on Line called “Mayor, listen to me” (市長，你給我聽好了), which allows users to leave messages regarding their municipal concerns.

The idea is good. A city government is about more than packing political achievements, and public messaging should not be allowed to drown out grassroots voices. Good governance is not measured by the scale of construction projects or how impressive the numbers look, but by whether public services meet people’s needs and whether frontline workers receive adequate support.

Taipei’s promotion of smart-city initiatives, digital services and performance management systems should be improving efficiency. However, if digital systems effectively double certain work requirements, or if performance assessments leave personnel exhausted from having to prepare reports and working overtime to fulfill their regular duties, reform becomes a burden.

Administrative streamlining should involve reviewing departmental procedures, performance assessments and staffing arrangements, eliminating ineffective tasks and allowing civil servants to focus on serving the public rather than endlessly filling out forms. Public sector workers’ time and energy should not be squandered to manufacture the appearance of strong performance.

In addition to teaching and counseling students, teachers must handle administrative reporting and communicate with parents. When the Ministry of Education demands results and evaluations without simplifying procedures or providing sufficient staff, the burden is shifted onto frontline workers.

Before promoting bilingual education and digital learning, the government should ensure that teachers, teaching materials and supporting measures are in place. Otherwise, teachers would be left to contend with a constant stream of open demonstration lessons, project evaluations and training sessions on top of their already onerous teaching workloads. Reforms that focus on results while neglecting necessary supporting measures undermine not only teachers’ professional expertise, but also the quality of students’ education.

The value of Shen’s proposal is not just that it provides an outlet for the frustrations of frontline public servants and teachers, but also that it turns their responses into a basis for institutional reform. The government should distinguish between issues that can be addressed immediately and those that require changes to regulations or budgets. It should assign responsibility to specific departments, set implementation deadlines and establish monitoring mechanisms to ensure tangible progress in reducing administrative workloads, supporting education and improving staffing.

Shen deserves commendation for his willingness to give frontline workers a voice. Genuine results are not about talking up achievements, but about enabling civil servants to serve the public and teachers to teach with peace of mind. When frontline workers sound the alarm, those in power should confront systemic problems rather than defend the appearance of success. That is the true measure of a Taipei mayor’s governing ability.

Yeh Yu-cheng is a secretary at the Pingtung County Public Health Bureau.