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Taiwan Quick Take

■ Politics
KMT aide backs Osama ads
After initially disowning campaign posters comparing President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) to Osama bin Laden and former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein, a Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) campaign official rallied to their defense yesterday -- little more than a week after apologizing for a Hitler slur. A campaign poster released by Taichung Mayor Jason Hu's (胡志強) KMT campaign headquarters before Saturday's election pictured bin Laden with the caption: "I'm terrorist kingpin bin Laden and I admire Taiwan's A-bian." Another picture entitled "bin Laden's masterpiece" showed New York's World Trade Center on fire as it collapsed following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. "Over the past four years, Chen has been creating confrontation and distrust among different ethnic groups, which is a kind of terrorism," said Lin Po-jung (林柏榕), convenor of the headquarters. "Also, his willful decision to press ahead with the referendum is similar to the style of Saddam Hussein."

■ Law
Election law amended
The legislature yesterday passed amendments to the Presidential and Vice Presidential Election and Recall Law (總統副總統 選舉罷免法) and the Public Officials Election and Recall Law (公職人員選舉罷免法) to forbid voters from bringing mobile phones and photographic equipment into voting centers in the future. Those who break the law can be sentenced to five years maximum jail time and fined up to NT$500,000. The equipment will be confiscated. The legislature also passed an amendment to the Code of Criminal Procedure (刑事訴訟法) so that now those who commit petty crime and would only be sentenced to less than three years can receive a lighter sentence by pleading guilty.

■ Health
DOH rejects drug plea
The Department of Health rejected a demand from student representatives from 12 colleges and universities yesterday that the government lift its ban on such controlled substances as ketamine and ecstasy. Lee Jih-heng (李志恆), director of the National Bureau of Controlled Drugs, said that he couldn't agree with the idea. The representatives from student clubs of National Taiwan University, National Central University, Fu Jen Catholic University and other schools said that private sex parties, orgies and drugs are common in today's society, but the authorities "cannot face this fact squarely," adding that "their conservative mentality is ludicrous." The students said that they hoped society could embrace sex openly, and that soft drugs such as ecstasy and ketamine could become commonplace. Lee said that he completely disagreed with their views. He said ecstasy is a level-two controlled substance, noting that it can cause damage to nerve cells in the brain.

■ Labor
New rules for foreigners
The Council of Labor Affairs said yesterday that in order to protect the employment opportunities of local workers, employers that have laid off a certain number of local workers would not be granted permits to hire foreign workers. The regulations apply to companies that, two years before hiring any foreign workers, have 200 employees or more and have a record of laying off more than 16 percent of its employees, and employers with 20 to 199 employees that have cut 37 percent or higher of their total staff; or an employer who hires 19 employees or fewer and has laid off 76 percent of its staff.

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