The Politics of Controlling Heidao and Corruption in Taiwan.

The author examines the relationship between the Taiwanese government and organized crime. He argues that the government is relatively weak vis-à-vis organized crime, which has traditionally infiltrated the political system through elections and bureaucratic corruption. The weak anticrime apparatus and civil servants' and politicians' lack of ethical behavior provide fertile ground for political corruption to persist. Clean government's defenders include most prosecutors, court judges, media professionals, and social activists. But civil servants need to be educated on the values of public accountability, financial propriety, and personal ethics. Anticorruption bodies should be reformed, and a single authority should be vested with the necessary legal authority to curb graft in the private and public sectors. To improve its democratic image, Taiwan must consolidate its governmental capacity to control domestic crime and destroy the coalition between the heidao, money politics, and bureaucratic corruption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]