Overt tolerance leads to connivance, of which there are two forms: “managerial connivance,” when the manager turns a blind eye to the mistakes and errors happening in a team; and “social connivance,” where the public displays an aloof attitude to misconduct in a society, with the idea that “it does not concern me.”
On April 19 last year, a two-year-old boy named En-en (恩恩) died of complications from COVID-19 and there were complaints that emergency services in New Taipei City’s Jhonghe District (中和) responded slowly.
To this day, En-en’s father still has not been able to obtain the truth — including audio recordings of the 81 minutes before an ambulance arrived.
The New Taipei City Fire Department even put on a show where it ordered its staff to pretend to receive emergency calls to simulate a busy atmosphere at the call center on April 14. En-en’s father did not learn for a long time that it was an alleged act of deception.
Rather than being condemned, the fire department filed a defamation lawsuit against the whistle-blower. Because En-en’s case did not generate enough controversy and public support to pressure the New Taipei City Government into an explanation, En-en’s case faded due to managerial and social connivance.
A year on, a kindergarten in New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋) is under investigation for allegedly giving children barbiturates and benzodiazepines.
Parents of the children in April called the 1999 citizens’ hotline to report the situation to the New Taipei City Government, but their complaints did not receive proper attention. It was not until May 14 when parents reported the incident to police that it became common knowledge.
After procrastinating for two months, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) New Taipei City councilors held a news conference to call for an investigation and remedial measures.
The New Taipei City Education Bureau commissioner, who attended the news conference, promised to revoke the kindergarten’s license and suspend its business immediately, as well as fine it up to NT$150,000.
Meanwhile, New Taipei Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) has been busy chasing his presidency dream. After a meeting with the KMT’s Central Standing Committee, Hou went out of his way to make a self-deprecating video, saying that the “No. 3” lunchbox was delicious — satirizing his support rating, which has fallen to third.
However, he did not make any remarks about kindergarten children getting drugged.
Amid the pressure, he finally bowed and apologized on Thursday.
The parents whose children were drugged must think that their mayor is physically present, but mentally absent.
Lin Han is a junior-high school teacher.
Translated by Rita Wang
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