`Three nos' stirs rights debate

A recent Taoyuan County Govern-ment ruling on "betel nut beauties" has sparked controversy on whether the authorities should impose a dress code on the scantily-clad young women.

While officials such as Interior Minister Yu Cheng-hsien (余政憲) support the rules, others argue that no one has the right to interfere with the way people dress, including the government.

On Sept. 15, Taoyuan County Deputy Commissioner Liao Cheng-ching (廖正井) announced a "three nos" policy prohibiting the women from exposing their breasts, bellies and buttocks while working beginning Oct. 15.

On Thursday, Taoyuan County Commissioner Chu Li-luan (朱立倫) relaxed the policy to one of "two nos" by permitting the exposure of bellies.

"I agreed that it's not quite reasonable if we force these ladies to wear those clothes that cover their belly," Chu said. "However, they still have to cover their breasts and buttocks while working. That's necessary."

According to Liao, the fierce competition for customers has prompted some betel-nut stand owners to make their employees go topless or wear thongs.

Employing scantily clad young women, many of whom are under 18 years of age, has long been a practice of Taiwan's betel-nut stands, most of which are scattered along suburban roads and highways. The phenomenon of "betel-nut beauties" has become a unique cultural marker in Taiwan.

But Liao says the practice is a national embarrassment.

National disgrace

"It's a disgrace to Taiwan," he said. "Lots of foreign friends of mine told me that they would like to check out what betel-nut beauties look like when they came to visit. It's embarrassing that there are so many betel-nut stands along the roads carrying foreign visitors from CKS Airport in Taoyuan County to Taipei City."

Taoyuan County Betel Nut Association Secretary-General Peng Tien-le (彭天樂) said that more than 600 of the roughly 1,700 betel-nut stands operating in the county had joined his association and signed agreements to abide by its decency rules, but added that the association has no control over the rest.

"Our members will cooperate with the government on the new policy. However, there's nothing we can do about those non-members," Peng said.

Minister Yu said that selling betel nuts itself is OK but these stands shouldn't block traffic or cause traffic accidents due to the presence of scantily clad women.

"That's why the county government came up with the decision to ask these women to cover themselves up a bit. For the sake of traffic, no matter whether it's `three nos' or `two nos,' Commissioner Chu has my 100 percent support for carrying out the crackdown on those betel-nut stands and beauties who won't follow the regulations as of Oct. 15," Yu said.

A Taoyuan prosecutor who wished to remain anonymous said that the Taoyuan County Government's original "three nos" policy wasn't legal and that the authorities would have trouble carrying out the policy.

"Exposing women's breasts in public definitely violates the offences against morals in the Criminal Code. There's no question about it. However, there is no legal document saying that somebody is in violation of the law if she shows off her belly or buttocks," he explained. "I guess that's one reason why Commissioner Chu changed the policy from `three nos' to `two nos.'"

A 17-year-old betel-nut beauty surnamed Lin (林) in Taoyuan told the Taipei Times that wearing such revealing clothes is not what she wanted but it is something she has to do due to the competition from neighboring stands.