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.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
RESPONSE: The government would investigate incidents of Taiwanese entertainers in China promoting CCP propaganda online in contravention of the law, the source said Taiwanese entertainers living in China who are found to have contravened cross-strait regulations or collaborated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could be subject to fines, a source said on Sunday. Several Taiwanese entertainers have posted on the social media platform Sina Weibo saying that Taiwan “must be returned” to China, and sharing news articles from Chinese state media. In response, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has asked the Ministry of Culture to investigate whether the entertainers had contravened any laws, and asked for them to be questioned upon their return to Taiwan, an official familiar with the matter said. To curb repeated
Myanmar has turned down an offer of assistance from Taiwanese search-and-rescue teams after a magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck the nation on Friday last week, saying other international aid is sufficient, the National Fire Agency said yesterday. More than 1,700 have been killed and 3,400 injured in the quake that struck near the central Myanmar city of Mandalay early on Friday afternoon, followed minutes later by a magnitude 6.7 aftershock. Worldwide, 13 international search-and-rescue teams have been deployed, with another 13 teams mobilizing, the agency said. Taiwan’s search-and-rescue teams were on standby, but have since been told to stand down, as