A bill designed to compel children to support their elderly parents triggered a heated debate in the legislature yesterday, as lawmakers and social workers disagreed on whether filial piety should be made a legal issue.
The debate took place during a public hearing to discuss a draft of the maintenance of parents law (子女奉養父母法), proposed by a group of legislators across party lines.
The bill would require that children provide their elderly parents with enough support so that the older generation can have a reasonable standard of living.
Parents would be able to apply for a court order compelling support. Children in violation of such an order would face imprisonment of up to one year, community service or fines of up to NT$200,000, according to the bill's provisions.
Wu Yu-chin (吳玉琴), secretary-general of the League of Welfare Improvement for Older People, which is against the draft, argued that such a law would put parent-child relationships under a state of tension.
"Prescribing the practice of filial piety by law will only create tensions in the family. Filial piety should be encouraged, but not prescribed by law," Wu said.
Wu said the main emphasis of the bill is on financial support for the elderly, which she said is a problem that should be dealt with by the establishment of a system such as the national pensions program.
"This is a system that requires people to make payments when they are young so that they can support themselves when they get old. In this way, people will live their life with dignity and don't need to ask their children for money," Wu said.
New Party legislator Lai Shyh-bao (賴士葆), an architect of the bill, said he does not think it is a problem to solve a moral problem by law, noting Singapore already passed a similar piece of legislation in 1996.
Lai argued that such legislation has now become necessary in Taiwan with the decline of the traditional value of filial piety.
Lai said the trend can be seen in news reports about old people dying alone in their homes without anyone noticing. She said many of those people had children, some of whom were highly educated.
The bill was originally supposed to pass a preliminary review in the Judiciary Committee last week. The review was suspended after justice authorities disputed the necessity of enacting a separate law, in light of provisions they say serve a similar purpose in the criminal and civil codes.
Yesterday's public hearing was arranged because of this dispute.
According to Ministry of Justice officials, there is a special chapter in the family law section of the Civil Code clearly stipulating that children are obliged to support their parents, though it does not specify the relevant legal procedures.
Instead of enacting another law, the Ministry of Justice has proposed amending the Civil Code to reinforce its effect should lawmakers consider the existing rules insufficient.
In addition to provisions in the Civil Code, the Criminal Code also establishes punishments for abandonment.
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