Due to controversy over a draft religious basic act, the Legislative Yuan’s Internal Administration Committee decided to cancel a scheduled review scheduled for yesterday.
The draft act was sponsored by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators Wang Jin-pyng (王金平), Huang Chao-shun (黃昭順) and Ma Wen-chun (馬文君), as well as Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lin Tai-hua (林岱樺), and cosigned by more than 30 legislators across party lines.
Article 10 of the bill would have established a principle of separation of religion and secularism, and forbidden the governing authorities from interfering in religious affairs.
Photo: Chang Tsun-wei, Taipei Times
The same article would have prevented the courts from mediating religious affairs, or interfering with the organizing of religious groups and the appointing of group personnel.
Article 13 would have prevented the government from restricting or prohibiting religious activities and would have given religious groups autonomy in terms of their organizational structure, personnel and financial management.
Most importantly, it would have made religious groups exempt from the Civil Code and the oversight of agencies that supervise charity groups and foundations, as well as prohibiting the government from making religious groups conform to the principles of democracy and transparency.
Article 14 proposed that religious groups be exempt from upholding the prohibition against religious discrimination in the Employment Service Act (就業服務法).
Article 15 would have given parents and legal guardians the right to choose a religion for minors.
Article 27 would have given religious groups with a building on government-owned land that had been in use for more than five years prior to the bill’s enactment the ability to apply to purchase the land.
The DPP caucus yesterday expressed its opposition to the draft.
Several DPP legislators who had originally supported the draft had already withdrawn their cosponsorship, DPP caucus convener Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) said.
Wang has withdrawn as a bill sponsor.
The DPP caucus hoped that society would be given the opportunity to form a consensus on the regulation of religious groups, and did not want to conduct a hasty review, Ker said.
The caucus did not want to see religious groups smeared due to the chaos surrounding the bill’s review, he said.
The draft does not give an advantage to any group or individual, Huang said, adding that she was disappointed that some legislators accused religious groups of becoming involved with Chinese money-laundering groups as part of Beijing’s “united front” tactics.
The review was canceled so that religion would not become politicized and tainted in Taiwan, she said.
As several articles in the bill are controversial, the Ministry of the Interior is not voicing an opinion, the ministry’s Department of Civil Affairs Director Lin Ching-chi (林清淇) said.
Lin said there was no need for a basic religious act, because the Constitution already guarantees religious freedom.
The DPP and the New Power Party caucuses have proposed to return the draft to the Legislative Yuan’s plenary session for further deliberation.
Deputy Legislative Speaker Tsai Chi-chang (蔡其昌) said a new date should be set to deal with the act.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique