【簡赫琳專欄﹣世界之眼20】市民要知道比一顆星或兩顆星更多的大小事

簡赫琳 政治學博士 文藻外語大學國際事務系

06/22/2017 撰

       假如每個城市都可被比喻成一個上市大企業，那我們每一個人皆是股東，因為企業中有我們心血涓滴而成每一分及每一毫的投資。既然如此，那召開股東大會就是理所當然。而股東大會在MBA教科書中定義為公司的「最高權力機構」，它由全體股東組成，對公司重大事項進行決策，也有權選任和解除董事；基本上分成三種股東大會: 1)法定大會 2)年度大會3)臨時大會。

  反觀我們的城市，由市民組成最高權力機構的股東大會在哪裡？ 是由市議會間接代表人民嗎?不到100位議員的市議會可足夠代表上百萬的市民嗎? 那誰來監督市議會？ 是透過號稱制衡的第四權-媒體而成的全民開講嗎？ 還是礙於人口太多，我們只能屈就於每四年才開一次的選舉來全盤檢討市政表現？

      另種我們常看到評比市政方式是民調。遠見雜誌在五月底才公佈2017年最新評比，全台有七位市長躍升五星級市長，可喜可賀。但這些民調主要依據的是人民對市長及市政的觀感，非常主觀性，並非依據事實。且市民都真的很瞭解各項城市治理施政嗎？難道政治就該只依靠「感覺」來做為自我滿意及評比的標準？ 市民應該有權知道比一顆星或兩顆星更多的城市大小事。

       美國有一個有趣的民間組織，其成立目的即是在幫助市民更了解他/她所居住的城市。這個組織英文名字叫 United States Common Sense，翻成中文可簡稱「美國常識協會」，期望將城市中複雜的市政運作轉換成一般大眾可以理解的文字、圖表、分析或「常識」，以便賦權市民，讓市民更有能力去監督或質詢政府的作為與決定。且這個組織也是有評比全美各城市的市政表現，但他們的依據不像台灣普遍一般使用媒體所製民調，他們是用實際收集與分析的數據和施政表現來評比市、縣與州。2016年3月更創新的推出一個線上公佈全美城市財務狀況評比的平台 govrank.org，他們不以市長為評比的代表，而是提倡觀察一個城市的長期表現。

在那，公民可以任意輸入想要知道更多財務健康分析的城市名，立即可以簡單的一目了然其收支狀況、資產價值、公務人員退休金或年金存量。以擁有800多萬人口的紐約市為例，他的整體市政財務健康度全美排名第1名，收支平衡排名第4，資產靈活度排名第1，公務人員退休金存量也排名第1；擁有380萬人口的洛杉磯市則是財務健康全美排名第8，收支部分排名第44，資產排名第14，退休金存量排名第3。最後，該網站也可以同時比較兩個城市或州，讓競爭形成正向進步的力量，促使城市可以加強其表現，修正其不足。

總結來說，「公民參與」這個概念固然重要，但若缺少這些讓一般市民可簡單操作的工具或資訊來源，那試問公民又要如何正確地、有效地參與及評比他們辛苦錢所投資的城市呢？

遠見2017台灣縣市長民調: https://www.gvm.com.tw/webonly_content_15131.html

美國常識協會: http://uscommonsense.org/

美國地方政府財務評比平台: govrank.org

【Taipei Times】Groups call for public Hoklo TV

A coalition of civic groups yesterday urged the government to establish a Hoklo-language (also known as Taiwanese) public television station to promote local culture and native language instruction.

Thirty-four groups led by the Taiwan Citizen Participation Association and the Taiwan Society called on the government not to ignore repeated calls for a station dedicated to Hoklo language and culture.

Although Hoklo is spoken by the majority of Taiwanese, the dominant media language is Mandarin, which hinders the development of Hoklo, Hakka and Aboriginal languages, the groups said.

While it is legitimate to prioritize the preservation of Hakka and Aboriginal languages with specialized media, the nation is gradually losing its Hoklo heritage and the language should also be protected, they said.

Although Hoklo is spoken by 81.9 percent of Taiwanese, there are no laws, independent government agency or television station dedicated to the language’s development, association chairman Ho Tsung-hsun (何宗勳) said.

Taiwanese who speak Aboriginal languages account for 1.4 percent of the total population, and their languages are protected by the Aboriginal Language Development Act (原住民族語言發展法), the Council of Indigenous Peoples and Taiwan Indigenous TV, Ho said.

Hakka-speaking Taiwanese account for 6.6 percent of the population, and their culture is promoted by the Hakka Basic Act (客家基本法), the Hakka Affairs Council and Hakka TV, he added.

“Former minister of culture Lung Ying-tai (龍應台) under the Chinese Nationalist Party [KMT] administration expressed a vision for a Hoklo-language station. Why does the Democratic Progressive Party government not dare to say the same?” singer Chen Ming-chang (陳明章) said.

“Laws or budgets are not the problem — the problem is a [lack of] resolve,” Chen said.

Minister of Culture Cheng Li-chiun (鄭麗君) had announced that a Hoklo-language radio station would be established.

However, she has not made any clear statement responding to calls for the establishment of a Hoklo TV station, Chen said, criticizing the government’s passivity over the issue.

Taiwan Society vice president Tiunn Hok-chu (張復聚), who is also a physician, said many patients can only speak Hoklo, and doctors should speak to patients in their native languages to ensure high-quality communication and treatment.

Taiwanese below the age of 40 can usually understand Hoklo, but do not speak the language, and it is feared that later generations would not even be able to understand it, he said.

“We are all culpable if our native language disappears after 30 years,” Tiunn said.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2017/06/19/2003672855

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