Taichung Mayor Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) yesterday said he would ask city government officials to only use smartphones for tasks related to city governance at city council meetings.
However, Lin also said that in the digital era, smartphones can help officials answer questions from councilors “more efficiently and comprehensively.”
Lin said that when he served as a legislator, then-premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) used a tablet computer to help answer questions during a legislative hearing.
Lin’s remarks came amid a fight between the city government and city councilors regarding the use of smartphones during question-and-answer sessions.
The controversy erupted on June 17, when Taichung City Councilor Chang Liao Nai-lun (張廖乃綸) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) spoke about Internet addiction, but city government officials at the meeting appeared to turn a deaf ear to what she had to say as they were preoccupied with their smartphones.
Angered by a perceived lack of respect, Chang Liao demanded that the officials turn off their smartphones.
She also asked Lin to hand over his smartphone, to which he said: “No need, I will just turn it off.”
However, Taichung Deputy Mayor Chang Kuang-yao (張光瑤) was agitated, saying: “Why should I hand over my phone?”
Chang was booed out of the meeting.
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