The Legislative Yuan’s Internal Administration Committee today passed an initial review of amendments to memorial and public holiday regulations, but lawmakers failed to reach a consensus.
Despite the lack of consensus on which dates should be commemorated or designated public holidays, the draft’s key provisions were all retained for further deliberation.
The current Act on Implementing Memorial Days and State Holidays (紀念日及節日實施辦法) is enforced administratively, leading to several proposals that it be raised to the legal level by the the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) caucus, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Niu Hsu-ting (牛煦庭) and independent Legislator May Chin (高金素梅) said.
Photo: Lee Jung-ping, Taipei Times
Discussions within the committee saw most of the proposal’s articles retained, with the committee inviting Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) and other officials to attend talks.
Lawmakers from the opposition and ruling parties agreed to formulate regulations for the law’s implementation to highlight commemorative days’ significance, including mandating that celebrations be held or promoting historical lessons.
However, they did not agree on which days to commemorate.
On behalf of the KMT caucus, Niu proposed a day commemorating indigenous resistance, an Aug. 23 Memorial Day and other options, while Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Huang Jie (黃捷) proposed a marriage equality day on May 24.
The KMT and TPP proposed a holiday for Labor’s Day and Teachers’ Day, in addition to days commemorating Taiwan’s recovery, lengthening the Lunar New Year public holiday to five days and a day celebrating immigrants, among others.
Chin proposed that indigenous groups choose their own three-day holiday.
As the committee did not agree to any one proposal regarding potential new public holidays, convener Niu said that the bill would move forward with further discussions on which days to commemorate.
The draft regulations were submitted to lawmakers for consideration and would be negotiated by the caucuses.
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