A former employee of a traditional Chinese medicine clinic in New Taipei City’s Jhonghe District (中和) yesterday accused the wife of the clinic’s owner of asking the clinic’s employees to copy personal information from medical records to use in anti-LGBT referendum proposals.
The alleged incident occurred at the end of August when she was working as a receptionist at the clinic, the former employee, who declined to give her name, told a news conference in Taipei held by the New Power Party (NPP).
She said that some patients saw the staff copying the data, which her friends told her was illegal, so she told the owner’s wife that what they were doing was inappropriate.
Photo: Peter Lo, Taipei Times
The owner’s wife fired her on Sept. 28 and threatened to ask the owner to ruin her reputation in traditional Chinese medicine if she made a big deal out of what happened, she said.
At the news conference, the former employee showed reporters records of her conversations with the owner’s wife and photographs of the referendum signatures that she had allegedly been asked to forge.
She said she hoped that through the news conference, the owner’s wife would be brought to justice and the public would be made aware that their names might have been signed to the referendum proposals without their knowledge, she said.
The clinic owner and his wife are members of the Bread of Life Christian Church in Taipei’s Shilin District (士林), the NPP said.
The wife is a therapist who specializes in individual therapy, family therapy and professional guidance, it said.
Stealing personal data for a referendum is not only illegal, but also a violation of God’s commandments, NPP spokesman Lee Chao-li (李兆立) said, quoting Leviticus 19:11, which says: “You shall not steal, nor deal falsely, nor lie to one another.”
NPP New Taipei City councilor candidate Chang Yu-chuan (張祐銓) said he believed it was not an isolated incident and urged the Central Election Commission to thoroughly check all referendum signatures.
After the news conference, NPP members went to the commission’s offices to deliver materials and evidence.
The commission said it would handle the case in accordance with legal procedures.
Anti-LGBT group Coalition for the Happiness of Our Next Generation president Tseng Hsien-ying (曾獻瑩) said the NPP should not smear the referendum proposals for publicity.
Taiwanese are tired of seeing these types of campaign tactics, he said, adding that he hopes that referendum discussions would return to being peaceful and rational.
Additional reporting by CNA
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