Minister of the Interior Lin Yu-chang (林右昌) yesterday lauded the passage of the first reading of proposed amendments to the Organization Act of the Ministry of the Interior (MOI, 內政部組織法), calling it a significant step forward on an initiative that has been 25 years in the making.
A meeting of the legislature’s Judiciary and Organic Laws and Statutes Committee and Internal Administration Committee earlier yesterday approved a draft restructuring bill that would task the ministry with planning, promoting, overseeing and assisting with local laws and organizations, the measurement and registration of land and buildings, and other affairs.
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Tang Hui-chen (湯蕙禎) said that a Cabinet-proposed amendment that the ministry should “plan, promote and guide” religious temples and ancestral worship guilds should be expanded to include management and oversight.
Photo: Hsieh Chun-lin, Taipei Times
Lin told the meeting that the ministry respects the autonomy of religious groups and organizations in line with the Constitution’s guarantee of religious freedom and that providing “guidance” instead of “management” would remove misconceptions about government interference in one’s faith or religion.
The Executive Yuan’s proposal also states that the ministry would have five subsidiary agencies — the National Police Agency, the National Immigration Agency, the National Fire Agency, a national land management agency and a national park agency — but legislators were unable to reach a consensus.
New Power Party Legislator Chen Jiau-hua (陳椒華) said that national park affairs should be managed by the Council of Agriculture’s Forestry Bureau, while Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Lai Hsiang-ling (賴香伶) said that a national park agency should be placed under the supervision of the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA).
Urging legislators to adopt the Executive Yuan’s version of the bill, Lin said that national park affairs are not limited to resource management, but also operations and management, which the ministry’s many agencies can help the proposed park agency with.
Aside from environmental conservation, national parks have many other functions — including regional land management — which do not fall under the purview of the forestry bureau or the EPA, Construction and Planning Agency Director-General Wu Hsin-hsiu (吳欣修) told lawmakers.
Should the amendments be promulgated into law, a national land management bureau and a national parks bureau would be set up, which would help government efforts in planning and using national land for urban development purposes, Lin said.
The joint committee also approved draft bills on organization acts for the National Fire Agency, a national land management agency and a national park agency.
Expressing his hope that the bill would be passed this legislative session, Lin said that it would need cross-party negotiations on disagreements over some of the proposals and that his ministry would continue to communicate with legislators.
Also yesterday, the legislature’s Internal Affairs Committee passed the first reading of an amendment to the Marine Pollution Control Act (海洋污染防治法).
The amendment would see the addition of a marine pollution prevention tax, the minimum amount of which has yet to be decided, as well as the establishment of a marine pollution prevention foundation.
Crude oil importers, maritime construction firms and businesses creating marine waste would all have to pay the fees, the amendment says.
The fund would source measures for preventing, cleaning and handling marine waste nationwide.
The amendment hopes to strengthen the nation’s control over the maritime environment, protect the seas and ensure the sustainable use of marine water.
Additional reporting by Hsieh Chun-lin
Foreign travelers entering Taiwan on a short layover via Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport are receiving NT$600 gift vouchers from yesterday, the Tourism Administration said, adding that it hopes the incentive would boost tourism consumption at the airport. The program, which allows travelers holding non-Taiwan passports who enter the country during a layover of up to 24 hours to claim a voucher, aims to promote attractions at the airport, the agency said in a statement on Friday. To participate, travelers must sign up on the campaign Web site, the agency said. They can then present their passport and boarding pass for their connecting international
Three Taiwanese airlines have prohibited passengers from packing Bluetooth earbuds and their charger cases in checked luggage. EVA Air and Uni Air said that Bluetooth earbuds and charger cases are categorized as portable electronic devices, which should be switched off if they are placed in checked luggage based on international aviation safety regulations. They must not be in standby or sleep mode. However, as charging would continue when earbuds are placed in the charger cases, which would contravene international aviation regulations, their cases must be carried as hand luggage, they said. Tigerair Taiwan said that earbud charger cases are equipped
Temperatures in northern Taiwan are forecast to reach as high as 30°C today, as an ongoing northeasterly seasonal wind system weakens, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. CWA forecaster Tseng Chao-cheng (曾昭誠) said yesterday that with the seasonal wind system weakening, warmer easterly winds would boost the temperature today. Daytime temperatures in northern Taiwan and Yilan County are expected to range from 28°C to 30°C today, up about 3°C from yesterday, Tseng said. According to the CWA, temperature highs in central and southern Taiwan could stay stable. However, the weather is expected to turn cooler starting tonight as the northeasterly wind system strengthens again
Taiwan sweltered through its hottest October on record, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday, the latest in a string of global temperature records. The main island endured its highest average temperature since 1950, CWA forecaster Liu Pei-teng said. Temperatures the world over have soared in recent years as human-induced climate change contributes to ever more erratic weather patterns. Taiwan’s average temperature was 27.381°C as of Thursday, Liu said. Liu said the average could slip 0.1°C by the end of yesterday, but it would still be higher than the previous record of 27.009°C in 2016. "The temperature only started lowering around Oct. 18 or 19
RSS