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Chen addresses controversy over leprosy center

President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) acknowledged yesterday Premier Su Tseng-chang's (蘇貞昌) effort, amid protests, in handling the controversial relocation of a leprosy sanitarium but asked him to address opponents further.

Su, while answering a question asked by a nominee for this year's National Youth Public Participation Award, was caught off-guard at the Taipei Guest House yesterday morning when a man accused him of lying.

The man, Lee Chun-da (李俊達), is one of the 60 nominees for the award. He said he would like to see the Lo Sheng Sanatorium (樂生療養院) preserved as a historic site.

Su responded by saying that some people might think that he did not care much about the relocation of the facility, but that was not the case. He added that the government has offered compensation to patients and built a new sanitarium for them, many of whom found the environment quite satisfactory.

"Liar!" Lee shouted.

Visibly stunned by Lee's jeering, Su paused for a moment before he went on to say that the Executive Yuan did not have the authority to approve or disapprove the decision of the Taipei City and Taipei County governments, which plan to take the hospital apart and reconstruct part of it somewhere else.

On whether the hospital should be preserved, Su said that he would leave it to the experts and government agencies in charge.

While the Taipei County Government is responsible for affairs of cultural preservation, the Taipei City Government is in charge of traffic construction projects. Su said the two governments notified the Executive Yuan of their decision last year.

"It is not easy to strike a balance between cultural preservation and construction," he said.

The sanitarium was built in 1930 in Sinjhuang (新莊), Taipei County, during Japanese colonial rule.

The Japanese government has admitted its inhumane treatment of the patients and victims have taken their battle for compensation to the courts. They won a victory last year when a Japanese judge ruled they were entitled to redress.

The Taipei City and Taipei County governments had originally planned to demolish the 70-year-old facility to make way for the Xinzhuang Line of the mass rapid transit (MRT) line.

Patients and human-rights advocates, however, refuse to give up the hospital, and the Council for Cultural Affairs would like to see it preserved as an historic site.

Chen said yesterday that he believed both the central and local governments have exerted themselves in the matter, and if some people still find their behavior unsatisfactory, he would like them to talk to Su face-to-face to prevent any further misunderstandings.

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