The new government is in dire straits over making good on President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) election promises. These very tangible pledges, which need substantial budgets to realize, are difficult to evade. Taiwan's was already in bad shape financially before the transfer of power.

On top of this came the awkward situation where different agencies tried to grab as big a slice of the budget pie as possible, in order to make good on their part of the election promises. This has given the public the impression that the government already has its hands full repaying its election debts -- leaving no energy for political reform.

However, the electorate voted for the DPP's Chen because of their expectations for reforms. Chen and the DPP won the election on their reform platform.

The "3-3-3" welfare program is only a small -- and not so important part -- of the reform program. A-bian made even greater promises about political reform.

Currently, apart from some news about his promise to crack down on "black gold" politics, we have not seen any solid, effective policy emanating from the Presidential Office, nor have any other reform policies taken shape.

As for the national policy blueprint that the reforms are based on (ie, Chen's campaign white papers), no government agencies in the new Cabinet seem to be taking it seriously, let alone make new policies out of it.

The best indicator of the government's attitude toward change will be the reforms and personnel arrangements at Taiwan Television Enterprise (台視) and China Television System (華視).

On June 17, Chung Chin (鍾琴), the director general of the Government Information Office, said that two task forces had been set up to arrange for the personnel restructuring of TTV and CTS, as well as draft the overall structural reforms for the media.

A personnel evaluation committee was to review employee matters at the two TV stations, while an "Evaluation Task Force for Domestic Media Structural Reform" was to come up with a proposal on issues such as whether or not political parties, the government and the military should cut their ties and involvement with the media.

Chung also said that the government would adopt a two-pronged approach of "lowering government share holdings" and "setting up legislation to prevent interference by improper elements" to push parties, agencies and the military to drop out of the terrestrial TV business.

Chung reiterated the two pronged-approach on June 30.

Now CTS' personnel are set, but TTV's are still under deliberation. Reliable sources say authorities are still insisting on appointing Lai Kuo-chou (賴國洲) [the son-in-law of former President Lee Teng-hui (李登輝)] as chairman of TTV.

Through what mechanism were the personnel decisions made for CTS? Did the personnel evaluation committee offer any opinions? If so, how many were actually adopted? Who did the committee recommend to be board members of TTV? Did it suggest that Lai be appointed chairman? If so, why?

Faced with these questions, the committee may have nothing to say in reply. If that is the case, we cannot help but wonder if the evaluation committee set up by the GIO was real or just a political myth. If it is real, what has it done? Judging from the various reports, I am afraid the committee is but a facade, incapable of making any decisions. Nor are its suggestions of any use.

Meanwhile, the "Evaluation Task Force for Domestic Media Structural Reform" has the hot potato of coming up with a proposal on how to get parties, the military, and government agencies out of the three major TV stations -- as well as deciding whether a media committee needs to be established.

So far the task force has operated in a secretive manner. No one knows whether the proposal, when it is announced, will be the final decision or whether some form of open debate will be held before it is finalized.

We hope the government will handle the issue properly because it will have an enormous impact on the development of Taiwan's domestic TV media.

Chen issued a media policy blueprint during the campaign in which he swore to turn TTV and CTS into public TV stations. But Chung's statements seem to put the government's policy totally at odds with Chen's blueprint.

Chen's promise to turn the two stations into public TV stations meant he intended to increase the government's share holdings in them. But Chung now clearly wants to reduce government holdings.

Perhaps Chen himself did not fully grasp the scale and scope of his policy blueprints -- drawn up by experts -- during the campaign. However, since they are his policy blueprints, he should make a clear statement regardless of whether they will be adopted or not.

Before formulating new media policies, the GIO should also make it clear to itself whether Chen's campaign blueprints should count at all and whether the evaluation task force's proposal should incorporate the policy blueprint.

The task force only has a short amount of time left to finish its work.

We hope the new government can come up with a proactive policy on media reform. Does it want to acknowledge the national policy blueprints made during the election, or does it want to leave them behind, like the foamy wake that disappears soon after a boat passes by.

As soon as possible, Chen should make an overall review of his national policy blueprint and come up with a complete plan.

Chiu Hei-yuan is director of the Institute of Sociology at the Academia Sinica and a professor of sociology at National Taiwan University.

Translated by Francis Huang