Cleaning corpses is a professional job, and making drunk-driving offenders do it might not punish them, but punish the deceased, Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) said yesterday.
During a Taipei City Council meeting on Friday, Democratic Progressive Party Taipei City Councilor Ho Chih-wei (何志偉) suggested that repeat drunk-driving offenders should be sentenced to clean cadavers as punishment.
There were a total of 11,000 cases of driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs (DUI) reported in Taipei during 2014 and last year, and this year 8,109 more cases had been reported as of August.
During a question-and-answer session at the council, Ho said repeat offenders often have their prosecutions deferred and are ordered to perform community service such as sweeping the floor of public libraries, which serves no deterrent effect.
“You drink, you drive, you wash,” he said, suggested morgues would be a better place for such community service.
Cleaning bodies would allow repeat offenders to “wash away their sins,” Ho said.
Such punishment has been used in Thailand and some US states, while other US states require drunk driving offenders to visit a morgue.
Taiwan should emulate these examples, Ho said.
Pressed by reporters yesterday, Ko said the Taipei City Mortuary Services Office was unlikely to agree with Ho’s suggestion, as cleaning the bodies of the dead should be done by professionals.
“Cleaning cadavers is a professional job, so having drunk-driving offenders do it may be a punishment for the deceased,” he said.
“Drunk-driving offenders must be caught,” Ko said, adding that the number of deaths in the city caused by drunk driving is relatively low, but the police have to spend a lot of time checking for drunk drivers.
Ko said that he has asked the Taipei Department of Social Welfare to think of better ways to reduce the incidence of drunk driving.
Taipei Mortuary Services Office Superintendent Huang Wen-ting (黃雯婷) said that while her office respects Ho’s “creative suggestion,” it has to consider other factors, including religious rituals and practices and respect for the deceased.
Ho’s suggestion will be discussed among city agencies and a response is expected within a month, she said.
Additional reporting by Huang Chien-hao
Taipei has once again made it to the top 100 in Oxford Economics’ Global Cities Index 2025 report, moving up five places from last year to 60. The annual index, which was published last month, evaluated 1,000 of the most populated metropolises based on five indices — economics, human capital, quality of life, environment and governance. New York maintained its top spot this year, placing first in the economics index thanks to the strength of its vibrant financial industry and economic stability. Taipei ranked 263rd in economics, 44th in human capital, 15th in quality of life, 284th for environment and 75th in governance,
The Sports Administration yesterday demanded an apology from the national table tennis association for barring 17-year-old Yeh Yi-tian (葉伊恬) from competing in the upcoming World Table Tennis (WTT) United States Smash tournament in Las Vegas this July. The sports agency said in a statement that the Chinese Taipei Table Tennis Association (CTTTA) must explain to the public why it withdrew Yeh from the WTT tournament in Las Vegas. The sports agency said it contacted the association to express its disapproval of the decision-making process after receiving a complaint from Yeh’s coach, Chuang
Control Yuan Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) tendered his resignation last night, admitting that he had misused a government vehicle, as reported by media. His resignation was immediately accepted by the Control Yuan. In a statement explaining why he had resigned, Lee apologized for using a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a pet grooming salon on May 20. The issue first came to light late last month, when TVBS News reported that Lee had instructed his driver to take the dog to the salon. The news channel broadcast photos that it said were taken by an unnamed whistle-blower, which purportedly showed the
A former officer in China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) who witnessed the aftermath of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre has warned that Taiwan could face a similar fate if China attempts to unify the country by force. Li Xiaoming (李曉明), who was deployed to Beijing as a junior officer during the crackdown, said Taiwanese people should study the massacre carefully, because it offers a glimpse of what Beijing is willing to do to suppress dissent. “What happened in Tiananmen Square could happen in Taiwan too,” Li told CNA in a May 22 interview, ahead of the massacre’s 36th anniversary. “If Taiwanese students or