Several legal experts yesterday called on the Council of Agriculture (COA) to withdraw the proposed farming community recovery bill from legislative review, saying it may be unconstitutional and violates human rights.
The bill, submitted to the legislature last year by the Executive Yuan and passed during an initial review in December, aims to “revive and create prosperous farming communities.”
However, some lawyers have expressed doubt that the bill could accomplish its goals and consider some of its clauses unconstitutional.
“The farming community recovery bill has nothing to do with reviving farming communities — it’s purely a land development project,” said Lee Chung-hsi (李崇僖), law professor at Chungyuan Christian University.
“It also seeks legalization of acts befitting gangsters, such as taking farmland away from individual farmers for development,” Lee said, adding that it went against the right to property protected by the Constitution.
Lee said the bill deals with the redevelopment of farmland, the construction of recreational facilities, such as bicycle lanes, and beautifying farming villages. A clause in the bill states that a redevelopment project may be executed in an area as long 60 percent of people who own land in that area agree to it, even if the owners of the other 40 percent object to it. Another clause says that if the government finds a building in a farming village too ugly, it can order the owner to improve it. If the owner doesn’t follow the order within a specified time limit, the government can renovate the structure without the owner’s consent and then ask the owner to pay for it.
“Who is to define what’s ‘ugly’ and what’s ‘beautiful?’ How can the government ‘improve’ the appearance of a privately owned house and ask the owner to pay for it?” asked Tsai Ya-ying (蔡雅瑩), a lawyer affiliated with the Wild at Heart Legal Defense Association. “This is a violation of human rights.”
“Not everyone has the money to pay when the government demands it,” said Thomas Chan (詹順貴), another lawyer. “So I guess this is what would happen: People would have their houses repaired involuntarily by the government, they have no money to pay for it, so the government seizes the property and puts it up for auction.”
“How scandalous would it be if you lost your home because the government thinks it looks ugly?” Chan asked.
Chan went on to say that the bill provides neither a platform for farmers to voice their opinions before a development project starts, nor a channel to file their complaints.
“The COA should just take it [the bill] back,” Chan said.
When asked for comment, COA Minister Chen Wu-hsiung (陳武雄) did not address the questions raised by the legal experts, but stressed that the bill would benefit farmers and promised that the council would offer more in-depth elaboration on the bill at a legislative public hearing to be held today.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
RSS