Department of Government Ethics

The senior officials of the Department of Government Ethics (DOGE), the Department of Civil Affairs and the Mortuary Services Office of Taipei City Government (TCG) joined together for the “We Care – 13,000 Caring Phone Calls” press conference at TCG, announcing the achievements in promoting Proactive Caring, Transparency and Cleanliness, and having citizens share their experience of the consultation-friendly process provided by the TCG when preparing for funerals.
In the past, people tended to prepare funerals through mortuary agencies. These mortuary institutions have always been associated with negative impressions, such as having old facilities and equipment or having a time-consuming and opaque application process. Sometimes, people might even need to offer some small favors or “red envelopes” (money) in order to plan a nice, smooth funeral. A few years ago, the TCG set a goal in pursuing incorruption and effectiveness, commencing with a series of mortuary benefits for the public. To enable a connection between the deceased’s family members and the mortuary facilities and, furthermore, to understand the variety of services provided as well as publicized and transparent charges, the DOGE established a Proactive Caring Team consisting of three special agents. The special agents phone the families to express their sympathy and condolences, and at the same time notify them about the process and information, including the types of services, as well as the duration and expense of each one. Should mortuary problems like additional charge occur, the team acts as a window for direct contact with the institutes. After the funeral, the team comes in direct contact with the family members to see how the services were and if they had encountered requests for red envelopes by the mortuary institution. Through this service, inappropriate intervention of the agencies is minimized, with doubts from family members also lessened, thus obliterating the always-criticized red envelope culture.
This proactive caring measure was proposed and established by the DOGE, it was approved and supported by Mayor Hau at the 22nd conference of the Clean Government Commission, when proactive and innovative elements were added. After ten months of preparation, the Proactive Caring Team was established at the Mortuary Services Office of the Government Ethics Office in April 2012. As of today, the team has made over 22,000 calls to families, 12,000 of which have been successful interviews from citizens; up to 98% of families agree that the functioning of the team is successful. After analyzing the results of telephone polling, 1% encountered requests for red envelopes from mortuary agencies while applying for funeral service. Before the guidance by the caring team, 53% of the interviewed public replied that they would give red envelope if requested, but the rate decreased substantially to 8% after receiving the guidance. Comparing the before and after of impressions on the Mortuary Services Office, 80% felt positive about the enhancement of anti-corruption on mortuary personnel. It appears that there is a positive enhancement of the transparent process and overall awareness of incorruption concerning mortuary personnel of Taipei City.
The DOGE pointed out that the concept of incorruption not only lies in the hands of the government (through proactive discovering and punishment as well as fighting lawlessness and stopping corruption), but administrative work and the importance of a transparent process are also emphasized. If the government institutes can make laws and regulations, operations and application procedures more open by publishing them on the Internet, it would not only substantially prevent backroom deals, corruption and asymmetric information from forming, but also increase efficiency and convenience. At the same time, the measure hopes to continue to increase the effectiveness of the interviews by the caring team and extend the promotion of an anti-red envelope culture to the wider public, in order to eliminate the negative impressions the public has regarding the mortuary institutions.
Anti-corruption hotline: 1999 ext. 1743