The Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) candidate for Taipei mayor, Ting Shou-chung (丁守中), yesterday apologized for remarks made on Monday that have been seen as discriminatory about single men who live alone, saying that he only meant to encourage government agencies to use big data in fighting crime.
“Regarding my comments yesterday, which some people felt constituted labeling and stereotyping and have angered certain groups of people, I hereby solemnly offer my apology,” the former lawmaker said at a news conference at the party’s Taipei headquarters.
He said he just wanted to help strengthen the nation’s safety net for women and young children through the analysis of scientific statistics and the data he cited were from the Ministry of Health and Welfare.
Photo: CNA
Ting on Monday told a news conference that big data analysis showed that there were six traits that indicated a person was more likely to become a child abuser or murderer: being male, unmarried, unemployed, living alone, lacking intimate partners or having a poor relationship with others.
“These men are society’s tickling time bombs and should be subject to preventive supervision,” he said.
New Power Party Taipei city councilor candidate Wu Cheng (吳崢) said Ting needed to apologize for carelessly labeling people as a potential criminal simply because they are single or unemployed.
Ting yesterday announced 10 policy proposals aimed at helping women and children, including a NT$50,000 subsidy for new mothers’ postpartum care.
The city should increase the number of babysitters who provide in-home care and also improve the quality of their service, he said.
A day should be designated each month as a parent-child day to encourage quality family time, with parents and children given free access to Taipei’s MRT metropolitan railway system and public facilities for the entire day, he said.
If he wins, he would also seek to help women start micro-businesses as a way to increase the number of women in the workforce, he said.
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