Fri, Jun 18, 2010 page8

• [LETTERS]

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  Civil rights in Taiwan

  On Thursday last week, I read an article about how the world Human Rights Association lowered the ranking of Taiwan’s civil rights. The main cause for it was the support of the death penalty within its borders.

  I couldn’t agree more with Taiwan for its stance on the death penalty, although the lack of initiative on gay marriage sparks another debate. In 2003, the Executive Yuan introduced legislation to allow gay marriage, but a majority of legislators decided not to vote on it and it has since been placed on the back burner.

  A poll of 6,439 Taiwanese adults released in April 2006 by the National Union of Taiwan Women’s Associations/Constitutional Reform Alliance concluded that 75 percent believe homosexual relations are acceptable, while 25 percent thought they were unacceptable.

  This poll shows support for the equality of all citizens in Taiwan. This would make Taiwan unique in Asia for its support of fundamental civil rights and in the eyes of the UN’s Human Rights Council. It would also open the door for the EU’s Civil Rights Commission to allow Taiwanese citizens to travel without visa restrictions.

  The balancing of two different issues, one of which allows the punishment of criminals, the other the reward of marriage between two people who love each other, lies at the very core of the civil rights debate.

  RICK LOPEZ

  Hsinchu City

  Planning for an oil-less future

  The Deepwater Horizon oil spill has forced the world to address the inherent danger of our dependency on oil.

  Hopefully, this environmental disaster will provide sufficient impetus for societies to start reconsidering their use of oil and planning for a future after peak oil, which is imminent or might already have arrived.

  The exact timing of peak oil may be uncertain, but it is clear that oil is already becoming more expensive and harder to extract.

  There is obviously only limited capacity for any major increase in the global supply of oil. The age of cheap oil is over.

  Oil importing countries will be more adversely affected by peak oil than oil producing countries.

  As a country that is almost entirely dependent on imported energy, Taiwan is particularly vulnerable to changes in the price and availability of oil. Taiwan’s economy is largely based on manufacturing for export and this is dependent on the ready availability of energy and petroleum products.

  Reconfiguring the economy and people’s lifestyles to be less energy intensive is not something that can be done overnight.

  Up to now the energy policies of Taiwan’s governments have been weak and piecemeal.

  There has been little ­investment in developing renewable energy and even if larger investments are made, it will still take a long time to scale up renewable energy. Even then, technical and economic constraints make it unlikely renewable energy will meet all of Taiwan’s present energy needs.

  Similarly there have been no major investments in improving energy efficiency. Measures proposed by the government are often token and while they should not be dismissed out of hand, they just don’t match the scale of the problem. Nor do they address the fundamental issue of restructuring the economy.

  People will have to adapt to life with less energy in the future.

  This necessitates a fundamental shift in our economies and our lifestyles. The sooner action is taken to adapt, the smoother the transformation will be.

  Without appropriate action the future is likely to be dark.

  DAVID REID

  Taichung
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