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Taiwan Takes Actions on “Open Government" and “Open Parliament" and Launches the 1st OGP Action Plan Co-Developed with Civil Society Representatives

Author / Claire Cheng (The original article was written in Traditional Chinese)
Translator (ENG) / Ming-Chen Li
Editor / OCF Lab 

As Taiwan’s democracy moves forward, the citizens’ desire for civic participation can no longer be satisfied by the government’s unilateral policy-making and the consultation of experts and academics. In spite of the government’s efforts, for many citizens, the government still hasn’t fully taken the citizens’ views into consideration when it comes to policy-making, rendering open government more similar to “Open Washing”. For civil servants, not only is their workload increased, but facing the citizens’ anger at times is also frustrating.

How exactly can Taiwan truly implement open governance policy? Fortunately, we are not alone, and there’s the Open Government Partnership (OGP) for our reference. The OGP not only collects the experiences of countries dedicated to achieving open government, but also monitors the implementation of each country’s action plans through a standardized evaluation mechanism. Last year (2020), Taiwan, though not a participating government of OGP, launched two action plans, one for the Executive Yuan and the other for the Legislative Yuan, based on the OGP’s standard, and released the official action plans this year.

This article is the third of the OCF Lab’s series on open government (the previous two articles are Introducing the Establishment and Operating Mechanism of OGP, and the Action Plan Framework Promoted by the National Development Council and Legislative Yuan to Promote Open Parliament Based on the Framework of OGP). The third article consists of three parts; the first part is about what OGP means for Taiwan’s open government policy in the past; the second part elaborates on the pros and cons of open government policy based on the OGP standard, and the last part provides an analysis of OGP’s impact on Taiwan.

專文
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【專題】追擊亞洲四國 eID ，資安、法制全面釋疑

犧牲資安換取便利？法制不全政府擴權？台灣「數位晶片身分證」發行緊急喊卡，資安和法律的質疑聲浪再掀高峰。目前時下討論文章多以歐洲國家為主，OCF 特此訪問日本、韓國、馬來西亞、新加坡，用較貼近台灣的亞洲 4 鄰國作為前車之鑑，洞悉 eID 各層面疑慮！

亦提供以上三篇文章的英文翻譯版本，歡迎分享給使用英文的朋友閱覽。

INFO 專文
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On the Use of Digital Identity in Asia (3) – Digital Identity in Singapore & South Korea

Written by Lynette Chang | Edited by OCF Lab

(1) eID in Taiwan
(2) eID in Japan & Malaysia

Following the release of previous part, this article will look at the non-mandatory implementation of digital and mobile ID via smart devices in Singapore and South Korea, as well as the transition to the use of eIDs in Taiwan. By comparing and contrasting the digital ID experiences in these Asian countries, we hope to identify areas that Taiwan can learn from to improve its digital ID experience when it is rolled out next year.

Non-Mandatory Digital/ Mobile ID via Smart Devices: Singapore and South Korea

Singapore’s National Digital Identity Initiative has seen the launching of the Singapore Personal Access (SingPass) Mobile application in 2018. The SingPass Mobile app, which users may access via a 6-digit passcode or biometrically through fingerprint or facial recognition, is a one-stop portal that allows users to access various government services such as MyTax, Singapore’s online tax portal.

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On the Use of Digital Identity in Asia (2) – Digital Identity in Japan & Malaysia

Written by Lynette Chang | Edited by OCF Lab

(1) eID in Taiwan
(3) eID in Singapore & South Korea

Following the release of previous article in Taiwan, this one will have a look at the non-mandatory digital ID in Japan, and mandatory myKad in Malaysia.

※ About the description of MyKad and driver’s license, the content had been corrected on January 12, 2021.

Non-mandatory Digital ID Cards: My Number Card in Japan

All residents in Japan including foreign nationals are issued a unique 12-digit Social Security and Tax Number affectionately known as ‘My Number’. Residents may request for a physical My Number Card to access various online administrative services, such as Japan’s online tax portal e-Tax. The card contains photo identification and an IC chip for online identification.

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On the Use of Digital Identity in Asia (1) – Digital ID in Taiwan

Written by Ho Ming-hsuan | Edited by OCF Lab

(2) eID in Japan & Malaysia
(3) eID in Singapore & South Korea

The digital revolution in the last half-decade has made digital life a new norm, and many countries are joining a growing number of people in transitioning into a ‘walletless’ future. First there was contactless payment, which allows users to pay through their mobile devices. Now, electronic and digital forms of identification are taking the world by storm. Gone are the days where we had to fumble through card after card to finally reach for the right one. Now, all our essential information is available at our fingertips with just a single card or smart device in hand. 

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RightsCon 2020: activists’ networking opportunity under the border control.

Author | Open Culture Foundation

It is the first time, RightsCon was being held as a fully online event. However, it is not rare in 2020 since COVID-19 became the global pandemic. Although we all look forward to attending the event in person and to meet old friends and new friends face to face, it is great to see 2020 RightsCon instead of a cancellation statement.

One of the challenges when planning the global online event is the agenda timeline. Since Open Culture Foundation (OCF) is based in Taipei, Taiwan. Most RightsCon sessions happened between 20:00 pm – 04:00 am in our time zone. It is tough to participate after midnight. But still, this is not a big problem when talking about global online events.

專文
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How many undisclosed zone of Government Information? Take a Look at How Citizens Fight Back!

Article by CHANG, SHU-CHEN | Edit by Open Culture Foundation (OCF)

Ｏpen Data Series

Taiwan was ranked as the high quality Open Data government in 2015 and 2016 by “Global Open Data Index". However, since than, there is no further development and many open data sets are still lack of function. This October, Taiwan National Development Council suddenly announced the draft of “Open Data Act" is under discussion. Before we finally step into next stage, let us review what is really going on when citizen request the data from government.

In a day with nice weather, the Nanfang’ ao Bridge crumbles without warning. In fact, people do not know if the bridges they walk on daily are safe or not, since the maintenance records has not ever been revealed before. (Source of the photo: Military News Agency, Ministry of National Defense)

The public only realized that there was only one maintenance record of the Nanfang’ ao Bridge after the bridge crumbled on October 1, 2019. Moreover, the maintenance record was only partial, the maintenance work was incomplete, and the information was incorrect, either.

Why did the relevant information remain unobserved for so long? The Ministry of Transportation and Communications established the “Taiwan Bridge Management System (TBMS)” right after Gaoping Bridge crumbled as a result of illegal gravel mining and typhoon slamming in 2001. Although the related agencies are required to upload the maintenance records of all bridges in accordance to the system, the information has not been opened to the public, which makes it unable to be supervised by the public. People also have no idea about the safety of the bridges they are walking on daily.

Taiwan is always considered by its people as an open and democratic society. After the “Freedom of Government Information Law” has been executed for fourteen years, and Taiwan has retained top spot in “Global Open Data Index” two times in a row in 2015 and 2016, which all have become one of the prides of Taiwan. However, , the sensitive zone of significant government information that should be opened to the public remains in the dark side of this pride.

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Next Milestone of Open Data in Taiwan

Taiwan is on the way to push “Open Data Act" this year (2020). Before moving forward to next stage, it is important to clarify the existing problem and identify obstacles.

How does government open their data and how is the data used in Taiwan? It is the main issue discussed within these series of research articles. Open Culture Foundation (OCF) worked with the experts from civil society, government, and data scientists to conduct the research, interview and writing. In the end, 4 articles are released in Traditional Chinese and 3 of them are transplanted into English.

We hope, by conducting this project, we are able to find the right direction for coming “Open Data Act". Also, by saving Taiwan’s experiences through English articles, we can share and connect with more international partners who are also developing the Open Data Policy.

Go Chinese Version /中文系列文章/

Series of Research Articles

[Culture]

Slowness of Opening Data and Rush of Identification Process Kills Historic Buildings in Taiwan.

[Environment]

Activate the Live of Opening Data in Environmental Impact process

[ Request Process]

How many undisclosed zone of Government Information? Take a Look at How Citizens Fight Back!

INFO
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Activate the Live of Opening Data in Environmental Impact process

By Kuo Hung-yi | Edit by Open Culture Foundation

Open Data Series

Taiwan was ranked as the high quality Open Data government in 2015 and 2016 by “Global Open Data Index". However, since than, there is no further development and many open data sets are still lack of function. This October, Taiwan National Development Council suddenly announced the draft of “Open Data Act" is under discussion. Before we finally step into next stage, let us review what is really going on about Open Data in Taiwan in historical case and environmental case.

What problems can we solve by “obtaining information”? Or what role does it play in human life? In addition to simply meeting the human need to gain knowledge, access to information is helpful for our judgment in decision-making, good for understanding specific things, and conducive to reduce human fear in the face of the unknown. 

Intelligent humans can keep away from disasters by learning astronomy, meteorology, and geographical environment, and improve hunting techniques, food collection and even medical behavior by comprehending animal and plant ecology. Intelligent humans develop various communication methods to disseminate information or knowledge, learn abstract thinking, and establish complex systems of knowledge and culture, which has created the world of mankind today.

未分類
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Slowness of Opening Data and Rush of Identification Process Kills Historic Buildings in Taiwan.

Article by Perry Wu | Edit by Open Culture Foundation

Open Data Series

Taiwan was ranked as the high quality Open Data government in 2015 and 2016 by “Global Open Data Index". However, since than, there is no further development and many open data sets are still lack of function. This October, Taiwan National Development Council suddenly announced the draft of “Open Data Act" is under discussion. Before we finally step into next stage, let us review what is really going on about Open Data in Taiwan in historical case and environmental case.

After the overhaul of the Cultural Heritage Preservation Act in 2016, citizen participation finally became more extensive. The amendment of the law expected that experts from the private sector can make up for the government’s manpower gap in the investigation and protection of cultural heritage. As with the Open Government policy, more and more aged historical materials are digitized and open to the public, and the preservation movement of private monuments has flourished everywhere. Concerning the “Red Leaf Garden” (Chen Mao-tong Residence) case, a recent occurrence of cultural heritage dispute, how did the reporter find the key information in the scattered historical materials to rediscover the history of this house almost 80 years ago? How can we figure out a more open and fair solution in the dispute regarding the certification of historic buildings in time to come?

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