The Ministry of the Interior (MOI) said recently that it would organize matchmaking activities for its unmarried workers as part of its efforts to improve the country’s birth rate.
Minister of the Interior Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) said he has asked his Personnel Office to organize the matchmaking activities at least once per year for single staff members in every agency under the ministry.
“As the agency in charge of the country’s population policy, the interior ministry should serve as an example in boosting the birth rate.” Jiang said.
Jiang’s proposal came under heavy discussion at a recent meeting of senior officials of the ministry, with some suggesting that matchmaking activities could be held among the ministry’s departments staffed by many unmarried women and the National Police Administration (NPA), which has many single male police officers.
Some people at the meeting expressed concern that high-profile matchmaking activities could impose undue pressure on unmarried workers.
However, there were some lighter moments. NPA Director-General Wang Cho-chiun (王卓鈞), who has been under fire over a series of scandals in the police force, showed rare signs of amusement during the discussions, a participant said.
In another moment, a senior official joked with a single subordinate who often works overtime, saying “you are my responsibility now,” and offered the worker time off to take part in the matchmaking activities once they begin.
The minister’s directive has put the chief of the ministry’s Civil Affairs Department Huang Li-hsin (黃麗馨) in a hot spot because 18 of the 48 workers in her department are single.
Huang promised to make it part of her job to keep an eye out for partners for her colleagues, saying that she will contact her friends outside the ministry to see if there are chances to enrich the private lives of her coworkers.
However, she assured the workers in her department that she would not be a nagging matchmaker on the job.
As a part of its efforts to boost the country’s birth rate, the ministry is offering a prize of NT$1 million to anyone who comes up with a slogan that will help convince people to have more children.
Taiwan’s birth rate declined from 12 newborns for every 1,000 people in 1999 to 8.29 out of every 1,000 people last year, among the lowest in the world.
The country’s leaders have become alarmed at the trend, seeing it as a threat to economic growth, and have assigned the ministry the task of dealing with the issue.
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