A quarrel erupted between the Executive Yuan and the Ministry of the Interior yesterday over anonymous accusations that the minister of the interior failed to defend the Cabinet's decision to abandon a national fingerprinting policy in the legislature last week thereby delaying the introduction of national ID cards.
One of the nation's leading Chinese-language dailies yesterday quoted anonymous sources from within the Cabinet as criticizing the MOI for attempting to establish an index-finger fingerprint database as the major reason the ID card bill was struck down. The newspaper also said that the ministry not only failed to defend the Cabinet's proposal, but also convinced some of the legislators to oppose it.
In response, Minister of the Interior Yu Cheng-hsien (余政憲) angrily defended himself and the ministry yesterday, saying: "I would never dare to defy the Cabinet's decision [to abandon all fingerprinting legislation as part of ID card registration]."
Yu also said that Minister without Portfolio Yeh Jiunn-rong (葉俊榮) could be the source that spoke to the newspaper. Yeh's response was that he never discussed the case with reporters in the past one to two months.
A 1997 amendment to the Household Registration Law (戶籍法) requires all citizens over 14 to submit prints of all 10 fingers upon receipt of their ID card, but a more recent Cabinet draft revision to the 1997 amendment, replacing the requirement of prints for all 10 fingers with a demand for only the prints of the index finger, was defeated at its first reading in the legislature last week.
The ministry announced last month that the it would try to find a balance between government controls and the right to privacy by requiring all citizens to submit to only the thumbprints, since many legislators favor the database's establishment.
Yu said that the thumbprints would ensure the uniqueness of the cards thereby preventing ID-card forgery.
He also emphasized that the database would not be used for criminal investigation, an assertion upon which human rights organizations have cast their doubts.
Cabinet Spokesman Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍), however, reiterated yesterday that the Cabinet has concluded all plans for a fingerprint database should be abandoned and that it would seek DPP legislators' support for the decision.
National Policy Adviser to the President Peter Huang (黃文雄), who has campaigned against the database, said that the ministry's attitude could be the reason the bill failed to pass.
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