After visiting one of Taipei's two publicly-run funeral parlors yesterday, city officials admitted to failures in the supervision of the facilities -- failures that, according to Taipei City Councilor Duan Yi-kang (
In the wake of sustained criticism from city councilors over alleged bribery and corruption at Taipei's city-run funeral parlors, Duan yesterday invited city officials and undertakers to inspect the Number Two Funeral Parlor.
The visit provided several examples of what Duan dubbed the "severe and lingering illness" of the place.
PHOTO: CHEN CHENG-CHANG, TAIPEI TIMES
One example is a privately-owned incinerator for burning paper money for the dead, set up by a private funeral service company at the site more than a decade ago.
"The company charges the bereaved NT$1,200 each time they use the incinerator," Duan said, as he questioned city officials as to why the illegal practice was disregarded for so many years.
Chen Cheng-chih (
"We'll send people to demolish [the private incinerator] tomorrow evening," Chen said, though he was unable to explain why staffers in his division have turned a blind eye to the illegal incinerator for the last 10 years or so.
The Number Two Funeral Parlor offers paper money incinerators free of charge to the bereaved, but undertakers said the lack of sufficient facilities often forced grieving relatives to use the private incinerator.
Duan also blasted what he called the "unreasonable practice" that allows the division's employee welfare cooperative to run certain funeral service businesses, such as offering funeral meals for placement in front of the temporary tablets set up for the dead at the parlor.
He said as some of the cooperative's revenues directly benefit the division's employees, the Bureau of Social Affairs -- which oversees the funeral division -- should clarify the details of its income redistribution to avoid any possibility of corruption.
During a subsequent panel discussion, undertakers alleged that staff at the Number Two Funeral Parlor often failed to wash the bodies brought there, even though they still charged fees for such services.
They said the situation became even worse after the 921 earthquake destroyed the only corpse-washing platform at the parlor.
Undertaker Wang Hsueh-pin (
"From the viewpoint of the bereaved, it's deplorable to see the bodies of loved ones unwashed before they are buried," Wang said.
Chen admitted similar allegations reached his desk six months ago. He said he had already instructed the parlor's staff not to charge corpse-washing fees if the service is not performed.
City officials also admitted they failed to do enough to curb shortcomings at the two funeral parlors and they vowed to accelerate reforms.
"I have to admit that what we saw today shows that we have failed to watch closely over practices here," admitted Su Li-chiung(
Chen Jeaw-mei (
"I've received telephone calls from people warning me to `be careful.' They said I was trying to stand in the way of their profit-making businesses [by launching reforms]," Chen said.
"But reforms will be our focus during the coming year," she said.
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