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Taiwan News Quick Take

■ POLITICS

Legislators to vet nominees

The legislature is set to begin the confirmation process of President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) nominees for Examination Yuan president, Control Yuan vice president and other members next Wednesday. The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), however, has threatened to boycott the process. The legislature’s Procedural Committee agreed yesterday to place the confirmation bill on the agenda of the plenary session on Friday. The committee, dominated by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers, also voted in favor of a KMT motion proposing legislators examine the qualifications of nominees on Oct. 22 and Oct. 23 and conduct the confirmation vote on Oct. 24.



■ SOCIETY

Sex-change recognized

Under pressure from gender-equality groups, the government plans to recognize the sex-change of a woman who underwent surgery to become a man. The Department of Health announced the decision yesterday. Activists opposed a Ministry of the Interior decision not to register a female-to-male sex change on a person’s national ID card unless the woman undergoes surgery to reconstruct male genitalia. The decision was based on a 2005 law that said a woman must be evaluated by two psychiatrists, have her breasts and ovaries removed and have her urinary tract and genitalia reconstructed for the government to recognize the change. Gender-equality groups said some women undergo sex-change surgery without genital reconstruction, which is very expensive.



■ EDUCATION

Official pans skirt rule

Schools should not penalize students for not conforming to discriminatory school uniform regulations, an education official said yesterday. Chen Chiao-mei (陳皎眉), a member of the Committee for Gender Equality Education under the Ministry of Education, said schools must respect students’ right to choose what they wear. Chen was referring to a controversy that arose when students at Taipei First Girls’ High School sent a letter to a media outlet complaining about rules prohibiting them from entering or exiting the school wearing shorts. The school’s uniform is a green shirt and black skirt. Although the Teacher’s Act (教師法) authorizes schools to implement rules to guide students, Chen said students had the right to initiate rules regarding the school uniform through a democratic process. In response to the students’ letter, the ministry said the schools’ rigid rules were in violation of the Gender Equality Education Law.



■ POLITICS

TSU still plans to expel Lai

The Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) plans to expel Mainland Affairs Council Chairwoman Lai Shin-yuan (賴幸媛) despite her withdrawal from the party. TSU Chairman Huang Kun-huei (黃昆輝) said yesterday the party would carry out its Central Executive Committee decision to strip Lai of her membership. Lai said on Monday night she was withdrawing from the TSU shortly after the Central Executive Committee said it would expel her if she did not quit her job within the next three days. The committee said the decision was made after five months of pro-China policies by the government. Lai said she had accepted the job with the blessing of former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝), the party’s spiritual leader, and that it has been her goal to open trade policies and minimize their impact on Taiwanese.


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