One of my research interest was public service, I even planning to write my dissertation about public service in Taiwan. In the simplest way of explaining public service is the service provided by the government for their citizen. The basic public service like education, health care, infrastructure, housing, electricity, and security. In public administration, there are three paradigms in term of delivering public service which is old public administration (OPA), new public management (NPM) and new public service (NPS). The OPA characterized by the complex structure of bureaucracy, excellent service is not the main purpose of bureaucracy. The provision of public service conducted entirely by the government. The NPW is a new way of thinking in delivering the public service, generally, the new way of thinking tries to apply the private service in the public sector. The private service emphasizes effectivity, efficiency and customer satisfaction. The system in company tries to adopt in public sector. Some of the services even conduct by the private. Consequently, the service becomes better but more expensive. The NPW was born because of the rise of a new concept which is called reinventing government and good governance. The newest concept was NPS, NPS try to balance between OPA and NPW. The concept is better public service at a cheaper price, it is not an easy thing to do. Most of the develop countries are at the NPM and NPS stage. While the developing countries mostly in the OPA stage. In Indonesia after the bureaucracy reform in 1998 there is a paradigm shift from OPA to NPM in concept but in reality, most of the practice is still OPA. As time goes by and the development of decentralization in Indonesia there was a significant improvement in public service in Indonesia although it still behind the fast progress from other ASEAN countries like Singapore and Malaysia.
How about in Taiwan? Honestly, the public service in Taiwan is far more developed than Indonesia. The public service in Taiwan even has reached a stage that is very concerned about diffable needs. In general, the people in Taiwan have very high mobility and punctuation like most countries in East Asia. Therefore the public service was created to support those needs. They provide mass transportation like the high-speed rail, MRT’s, and buses whose arrival time is reliable.
The elevator in MRT’s station
I can carry my luggage easily with extra flat elevator
What I like about this elevator is they give more space in the flat elevator, so people carrying their luggage can step on it easily and stable the position of the luggage. Most of the elevator in a public area like the airport in Indonesia don’t have this kind of elevator. Right after you step into the elevator the stair will up so you don’t have time to fix your luggage position.
Inside the MRT
When I arrived in Taiwan in April 2018, I was thinking that people in Taiwan are highly disciplined. But after staying in Kaohsiung in a few months and saw how the people drive well I was thinking apparently not that discipline. So far my conclusion was the government manage to create a system that forces the people to obey the law. There are not so many law officers like the police in Taiwan but they put so many CCTV in public space, even in the university almost every corner have CCTV. Like in the MRT, it is quite difficult to find a trash can in the MRT station but the station somehow is very clean. The government also don’t allow people to drink and eat in the MRT. If you violate the law they will give you a fine. I rarely find people eating and drinking in MRT or any other public transportations or the waste they left.
Punctuation is a habit
Another thing I like about public service in Taiwan is the punctuation. There is behavior from the operator that they look so worried and terrified if they don’t pick and deliver the passenger on time. Maybe they will have a penalty if they don’t pick and deliver on time but I think is just their habit.
Even in a small neighborhood is very clean
For me, cleanness is one indicator of the develop country. When the government has a clear set of rules, strict law enforcement and high public awareness it can be portrayed by the condition of the environment. And cleanness is one of the portrayals.
Keep the THSR train clean
Good urban planning
The lines
As we can see, even there is no officer the people still following the lines.
The system force you to obey the law
The culture of queuing
The yellow line signs for diffable
The button in the elevator easier for diffable-lower button
The upper button
Most of the elevator in Kaohsiung provides two kind of button the upper and the lower one, both of the buttons provided braille sign. The lowe button usually for people on the wheelchair. In my opinion, public service in Taiwan is in the NPS stage, where they combining public service the private and government provider. Not only consider comfort, accuracy, safety and customer satisfaction the public service in Kaohsiung has elevated to entertain the public.
The train with a cartoon picture
An interesting character for children
Inside the MRT with Chibi Maruko Chan character
There are so many interesting criteria provided by the government and private in Kaohsiung, I am keen to learn more about the system. And hopefully someday public service in Indonesia will be increased to the NPS stage. People might not disagree to compare Taiwan with Indonesia because Indonesia is a big archipelago country with hundred of ethnicity, perhaps more complicated from Taiwan. My intention is not to compare between Taiwan and Indonesia, I will also try to share another nice thing about public service in other countries I have been visited like Malaysia and Singapore. My point is every chance I got to observe public service directly is a nice thing to learn not only the system but also the way people respond to the system. Someday I hope Indonesia can apply it. It is always nice to share good things from other countries.