Equal right to life
In Taiwan, many issues become distorted through the lens of blue/green politics. However, on issues such as the Animal Protection Act (動物保護法), there should be no gray areas.
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Lin Tai-hua (林岱樺) probably feels aggrieved following recent criticism of her proposed amendment to the act to allow for “life-releasing” events by religious groups.
Lin probably believes that all she is doing is assisting those people who wish to engage in “life-releasing” activities and that the government should shoulder the responsibility of providing shelter for animals released at such events.
However, Lin appears to misunderstand the concept of an equal right to life. Everyone in society should respect the right of all animals to life and not attempt to shift the responsibility onto others.
While it is the duty of a government to protect its citizens, the machinery of state should not be used to help provide shelter for abandoned animals. Instead, the government should seek ways to foster a greater respect for all lives among the public.
Wednesday’s spat between Lin and a Council of Agriculture official displays a failure of communication and a certain stubbornness on the part of Lin, leading one to suspect that a legislative assistant has helped the lawmaker gather information on animal rights to encourage those more familiar with the issues to engage in a policy debate with the council.
Otherwise, Lin’s proposed amendment could set off an unintended sequence of events: If wrong-headed ideas are made into law, it will inevitably lead to an ecological disaster.
The public is already numb to important issues being used as a political football by the pan-blue and pan-green camps.
If politicians and political parties instead focused their energies on assimilating the latest scientific knowledge on environmental protection and then engaged in an informed debate on the ethical and ecological issues, legislators would mature together, which would result in a higher quality of legislation.
In doing so, not only would they give their parties valuable political points, they would also be improving the well-being of all in society.
Hsieh Kun-hua
Taichung
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