The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday called on president-elect Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) to explain her stance on the abolition of the death penalty, saying it does not rule out subjecting the controversial issue to a referendum.
The KMT caucus made the remarks during a news conference at the legislature, amid public fury over the brutal murder of a four-year-old girl, who was decapitated in front of her mother in an apparent random attack in Taipei’s Neihu District (內湖) on Monday.
The girl’s death has renewed debate on the abrogation of capital punishment, which still exists in Taiwan. The last time a convict was put to death in the nation was in June last year, when six death-row inmates were executed.
Photo: CNA
“We strongly oppose scrapping the death penalty. A murderer must pay the price for his crime with his own life,” KMT deputy caucus whip Lin Te-fu (林德福) told the news conference.
Lin said the tragedy is heart-wrenching and that the caucus held the news conference to ask opponents of the death penalty: “Do you think society can accept your proposal?”
KMT caucus whip Lai Shyh-bao (賴士葆) called on the Ministry of Justice to execute the 42 death-row inmates in the nation’s prisons as soon as possible to deter similar atrocities.
“The ministry has sought to put off the executions by citing two UN human rights conventions,” Lai said, referring to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights ratified by President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) in May 2009.
Given increasing public calls for the abolition of the death penalty and many DPP members’ opposition to capital punishment, the ministry might become even less willing to carry out a death sentence once the new DPP administration is sworn in on May 20, Lai said.
Most murderers targeting young children in the past few years have not been put on death row because of the two UN conventions and the convicts’ claims of mental disorders, KMT Legislator Johnny Chiang (江啟臣) said.
“Should our future head of state insist on pushing for the abrogation of capital punishment, we do not rule out initiating a referendum to let the public decide,” Chiang said, urging judges to mete out the most severe sentence for child killers.
KMT Legislator Alicia Wang (王育敏) said a draft amendment she has proposed to the Criminal Code to subject people who kill children under the age of 12 to a mandatory death sentence or life sentence is set to be deliberated during a legislative committee meeting tomorrow.
Separately yesterday, Premier Simon Chang (張善政) said that society is still far from reaching a consensus on the abrogation of capital punishment.
“The death penalty still exists in the nation, though some people really want to see it gone. It requires a high level of public consensus to amend current laws,” Chang said after visiting people injured in the Formosa Fun Coast water park disaster in New Taipei City’s Bali District (八里) in June last year.
Chang said as a government official, he is not in a position to comment on the issue.
“We should leave this matter to the public to decide,” he said.
TECH EFFECT: While Chiayi County was the oldest region in the nation, Hsinchu county and city, home of the nation’s chip industry, were the youngest, the report showed Seven of the nation’s administrative regions, encompassing 57.2 percent of Taiwan’s townships and villages, became “super-aged societies” in June, the Ministry of the Interior said in its latest report. A region is considered super-aged if 20 percent of the population is aged 65 or older. The ministry report showed that Taiwan had 4,391,744 people aged 65 or older as of June, representing 18.76 percent of the total population and an increase of 1,024,425 people compared with August 2018. In June, the nation’s elderly dependency ratio was 27.3 senior citizens per 100 working-aged people, an increase of 7.39 people over August 2018, it said. That
‘UNITED FRONT’: The married couple allegedly produced talk show videos for platforms such as Facebook and YouTube to influence Taiwan’s politics A husband and wife affiliated with the China Unification Promotion Party (CUPP) were indicted yesterday for allegedly receiving NT$74 million (US$2.32 million) from China to make radio and digital media propaganda to promote the Chinese government’s political agenda and influence the outcome of Taiwan’s elections. Chang Meng-chung (張孟崇) and his wife, Hung Wen-ting (洪文婷), allegedly received a total of NT$74 million from China between 2021 and last year to promote candidates favored by Beijing, contravening the Anti-Infiltration Act (反滲透法) and election laws, the Chiayi District Prosecutors’ Office said. The couple acted as Beijing’s propaganda mouthpiece by disparaging Hong Kong democracy activists
EARLY ARRIVALS: The first sets of HIMARS purchased from the US arrived ahead of their scheduled delivery, with troops already training on the platforms, a source said The Ministry of National Defense (MND) yesterday said it spotted 35 Chinese military aircraft, including fighters and bombers, flying to the south of Taiwan proper on the way to exercises in the Pacific, a second consecutive day it has reported such activities. The Chinese Ministry of National Defense did not respond to a request for comment on the missions, reported just days before tomorrow’s US presidential election. The US is bound by law to provide Taiwan with the means to defend itself. Its arms sales to Taipei include a US$2 billion missile system announced last month. The MND said that from 9am yesterday,
A Control Yuan member yesterday said he would initiate an investigation into why the number of foreign nationals injured or killed in traffic incidents has nearly doubled in the past few years, and whether government agencies’ mechanisms were ineffective in ensuring road safety. Control Yuan member Yeh Ta-hua (葉大華) said in a news release that Taiwan has been described as a “living hell for pedestrians” and traffic safety has become an important national security issue. According to a National Audit Office report released last year, more than 780,000 foreign nationals were legally residing in Taiwan in 2019, which grew to more than
RSS