Reforms of household registration, land administration and conscription systems as well as preparations for local elections were focuses of discussion at today's Cabinet meeting following a Ministry of the Interior (MOI) briefing on its improvements and efficacies in these areas.
When a new generation of the aforementioned systems went online on February 5 this year, some cities and counties experienced system failures, resulting in great inconvenience for the public, Premier Jiang Yi-huah said. For instance, some people were not able to register births, marriages or deaths promptly. This greatly tarnished the image of the household registration and land administration systems, which citizens had previously given the highest satisfaction ratings among all governmental services.
Soon after these incidents, the Executive Yuan directed the MOI to conduct a thorough review and examination of the systems' functionality and stability as well as the performance capability of the bidders that designed the systems, the premier pointed out. The ministry was directed to continue striving to improve the systems' efficiency as well as their operations and maintenance management.
Now the household registry, land administration and conscription systems are in good working order, with their faults rectified. Nevertheless, the premier reminded the MOI to continue working to strengthen operations and maintenance management, efficiency and information security.
Regarding the November 29 elections for local public functionaries, the premier instructed the MOI to ensure that all systems and preparations are ready by the election date, that extreme care be taken to safeguard data accuracy and integrity, and that all election matters, including the lists of electors (registered voters), be compiled and completed without error.
The MOI stated that it launched a number of inspections of databases in March to ensure relevant records were correct before the upcoming elections. It has been checking:
- Whether any citizens possess multiple national identification numbers or multiple household registrations.
- Data coupling.
- The consistency of master files possessed by central, city and county government and household registration offices, of information provided in application forms, and of both old and new systems' basic personal information about residents.
All these checks have been completed, and corrections made.
The MOI noted that it has conducted 10 tests of selected cities and counties and three nationwide trials, with a fourth on November 1. The ministry anticipates that thanks to these efforts, the elector lists and related statistical reports will be produced and released without error or difficulty on November 9.