There have been reports that the Taipei City Government recently concluded its months-long investigation into a sexual harassment complaint by former deputy spokeswoman Huang Ching-ying (黃?瑩) against former city consultant Liu Chia-jen (劉嘉仁).
Since the case involved the parties’ personal privacy, the city decided to only announce the results to the people involved and the authority in charge.
In response, Huang said in an interview in Yilan County that she would respect the decision, and thanked everyone for their concern.
She said that as next month’s presidential and legislative elections are less than a month away, she quit her job at the Taipei City Government to focus on campaigning for the Taiwan People’s Party.
She added that since she has switched to campaign mode, she hopes her sexual harassment complaint will smoothly come to a close.
If the case does not make a ripple, it would be a blow to efforts at eliminating sexual violence and promoting gender equality. More seriously, it would hurt the city government’s image as a responsible authority that should have handled the issue in accordance with the law, clear the innocent and punish the guilty.
Furthermore, the decision to not make the results public is unfair to Huang, as it fails to clearly do her justice, but perhaps also to Liu, who might have felt wronged due to some misunderstanding.
Liu tried to clarify his role to the public, saying that he was “fully confident” of his innocence.
If no sexual harassment occured, he would be taking the blame unjustly.
If there was sexual harassment, is the Taipei City Government holding him legally accountable by transferring him to the Taipei City Hospital as a special assistant as reports say?
The alleged sexual harassment involves two public figures, as well as the character and integrity of private individuals. Article 9 in the Sexual Harassment Prevention Act (性騷擾防治法) addresses financial compensation for and restoring the reputation of a victim.
Although Article 12 states that media outlets may not report or record a victim’s name or other information that could lead to the discovery of their identity, it stresses that “there will be no such limitation if an agreement is given by a competent victim, or if the criminal investigation agency thinks that revealing the victim’s identity is necessary in accordance with the law.”
In other words, the city government’s mishandling of the sexual harassment complaint fails to distinguish between right and wrong, and it might violate the principle of proportionality and bring continuous harm to both parties.
Without truth, there can be no justice or forgiveness.
Perhaps Huang did not want to cause Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) trouble, so she said that she would rather focus on the campaign.
However, these are two separate issues. Yes is yes, no is no.
When public figures or civil servants are involved in this kind of case, there should be no ambiguity. The decision to not make the results public contravenes Ko’s own principle to do the right things and to do them correctly.
Hu Wen-chi is a former vice chairman of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Culture and Communications Committee.
Translated by Eddy Chang
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