The death of a two-year-old boy nicknamed En En (恩恩) in New Taipei City’s Jhonghe District (中和) caused public outrage and people to blame the city’s mayor.
Like me, New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) is from Chiayi County’s Puzi City (朴子). When former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) was Taipei mayor, Hou was commissioner of the Taipei Police Department’s Criminal Investigation Division and I was commissioner of the city’s Department of Health. As commissioners, we attended the city’s Police and Sanitation Committee meetings, and we helped with each other’s duties on numerous occasions. We also worked together on the murder case of Pai Hsiao-yen (白曉燕).
When Chen became president, Hou was promoted to director-general of the National Police Agency and I became minister of health and welfare — it is fair to say that we go back a long way.
As a former mayor of Chiayi City, I would like to give Hou some recommendations on disease prevention measures, although I do not really expect them to be implemented.
First, under the Communicable Disease Control Act (傳染病防治法), the local epidemic commander is neither the Department of Health commissioner nor the Fire Department commissioner, but the mayor. Hence, I urge Hou to stop passing the buck, because the responsibility is his and his alone.
Second, all fire department and health department personnel have spared no effort in curbing COVID-19, so Hou should not shift the responsibility to his subordinates.
Third, I would suggest Hou face up to the reality that just as there are diligent staff, there are also those who coast and do not pull their weight in the workplace. To boost morale, Hou should adopt a reward-and-punishment approach — as maintaining strict discipline is also part of a mayor’s duties.
Fourth, the En En incident is an opportunity for the local government to review its emergency care system. If there were not enough personnel to handle the case, Hou should recruit retired or volunteer workers.
If certain workers were derelict in their duties or negligent, Hou should discipline them fairly. Failure to do so would only undermine workplace culture and efficiency.
Fifth, Hou should use this incident as an opportunity for reform, and avoid using bureaucracy to fend off En En’s father and public criticism. The local government should not have abused its authority and public resources by ordering firefighters to participate in an alleged act of deception, neither should it deploy cyberarmies to attack En En’s father.
Sixth, Hou should not allow fellow members of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) to turn the father’s pursuit of truth into a political maneuver. A child’s death is the last thing anyone wants to see, and En En’s death should not be mixed up with politics. Deepening political divisions does not work in Hou’s favor, because the “deep blue” camp dislikes him regardless.
Seventh, Hou should stop withholding the rest of the audio files from the public. The best approach would be to improve the admissions procedure and the emergency system, eliminate the red tape, and offer a formal and sincere apology to En En’s father.
The incident should open the door to change and help a father grieving for his lost child. If Hou shoulders the burden of being a leader, En En’s death will not have been for nothing.
Twu Shiing-jer is chairman of the Development Center for Biotechnology, a former minister of health and welfare, and founding chairman of Taiwan Immunization Vision and Strategy.
Translated by Rita Wang
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