The Executive Yuan yesterday proposed an amendment to the Red Cross Society Act of the Republic of China (中華民國紅十字會法), with Deputy Minister of the Interior Lin Tzu-ling (林慈玲) saying that the law could be changed, but should not be abolished.
New Power Party and Democratic Progressive Party legislators proposed that the act be abolished, saying they consider it to be a remnant of the authoritarian era, granting special privileges to organization that had — until a legislative amendment in 2000 — been a “government facility” according to the regulations.
Lin said in a news conference after the Cabinet’s weekly meeting yesterday that the Red Cross Society has made great contributions in its special missions, such as rescuing and nursing wounded soldiers during wartime and participating in disaster-relief activities during peacetime.
The Red Cross Society law has its raison d’etre, but it should also be subject to review, Lin said.
According to the existing act, the president of the organization is elected by the group’s national member representatives’ congress with a term of four years and can be re-elected indefinitely.
Lin said the Ministry of the Interior has proposed an amendment to the act to impose a two-term limit.
Regulations to have the government appoint officials from finance, audit and budget, accounting and statistics agencies as the organization’s supervisors would also be scrapped, Lin said.
While the Red Cross Society has been criticized over exemptions from regulations governing donations, Lin said that the group has always adhered to the Charity Donations Destined for Social Welfare Funds Implementation Regulations (公益勸募條例), which all charity organizations are subject to.
In a bid to alleviate concerns, the proposed amendment would stipulate that the organization’s donation soliciting activities would have to conform to the existing regulations, Lin said.
The group would have to gain approval from the government before asking for donations, she added.
“However, since the Red Cross Society has special missions, the proposed rule changes would allow it to conduct donation-soliciting activities in emergency situations without prior government approval, provided that it applies for government acknowledgment within five days of the launch of its activities,” the deputy minister said.
Lin said that the Red Cross Society has had its financial statements certified by accountants since 2011.
The proposed amendment would require the group to certify financial statements and submit them to the government for reference purposes, she added.
It took director Chong Keat Aun (張吉安) nearly a decade to complete Snow in Midsummer (五月雪), a deft chronicle of Malaysia’s May 13 incident told through one woman’s search for her brother and father. Although only his second feature, it led the field at yesterday’s Golden Horse Awards with nine nominations. Chong said it had been a struggle to get people to share their memories of the intercommunal violence following the 1969 national election, known among the country’s ethnic Chinese community as “513.” “My father, for example, would shut the conversation down if my mother or grandma even mentioned the topic,” Chong said
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday said that a surge in respiratory illnesses in China has been caused by at least seven types of pathogens, and small children, elderly people and immunocompromised people should temporarily avoid unnecessary visits to China. The recent outbreak of respiratory illnesses in China is mainly in the north and among children, CDC Deputy Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞) said on Monday. Data released by the Chinese National Health Commission on Sunday showed that among children aged one to four, the main pathogens were influenza viruses and rhinoviruses, while among children aged five to 14, the main pathogens
A new poll of Taiwanese voters found the top opposition candidate for president jumping past the ruling party’s hopeful into the lead position ahead of January’s election — the latest twist in a drama-filled race. Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) presidential candidate Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) had an approval rating of 31.9 percent versus 29.2 percent for the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) presidential candidate Vice President William Lai (賴清德), the poll released yesterday by the Taiwanese Public Opinion Foundation showed. The Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) presidential candidate, New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜), ranked third with 23.6 percent, according to the survey conducted
A New Taipei City hotpot restaurant could be fined after a rat dropped from the ceiling and landed on a customer’s plate last week, the New Taipei City Department of Health said yesterday after conducting an inspection. A woman recently posted on the “I am a Banciao resident” (我是板橋人) social media group saying that she had been eating with a friend at Chien Tu Shabu Shabu Hotpot Restaurant’s Shuangshi B branch in Banciao District (板橋). “While still eating, a big rat suddenly dropped down from the ceiling, landing on a plate next to a hotpot,” she said. “Later on, a member of
RSS