A preschool teacher in Taipei’s Xinyi District (信義) was indicted in August last year on charges of alleged sexual assault and offenses of forced obscenity against six girls. Prosecutors said the man was suspected of sexually abusing at least 20 girls.
There has been public anger toward not only the perpetrator, but also some government agencies that were accused of not being proactive enough.
The teacher, Mao Chun-shen (毛畯珅), is the son of the owner of Taipei Piramide School (私立培諾米達信義幼兒園), and prosecutors said they found that he possessed more than 600 sexually explicit images or videos of children he allegedly abused.
Parents reported the first suspected case to the authorities in July 2022. However, after watching the preschool’s surveillance footage, prosecutors found no clear signs of any wrongdoing, and Mao was not suspended from his teaching job, while the preschool was allowed to enroll more students. Prosecutors did not charge him due to a lack of evidence.
After more parents accused him of sexual abuse, prosecutors indicted and detained Mao in July last year — a year after the first case was reported.
There has been a public outcry, because the Taipei City Government seemed to have quickly dismissed the case in 2022, while prosecutors were still investigating it, allowing Mao to continue teaching.
Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安), who took office in December 2022, bowed and apologized on July 19 to those affected by the case, accepted responsibility and promised that the city government would improve its policies.
Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲), Chiang’s predecessor as Taipei mayor, on the same day said there is room for improvement, and during investigations officials should be “protecting children,” while not “causing parents panic and deciding a suspect is guilty before any ruling.”
He also said that “apologizing is the easiest, but what is the use if you cannot solve the problem?” He was seemingly shifting the blame to Chiang.
However, Chinese-language Mirror Magazine on Tuesday last week revealed the city government’s meeting minutes from July and August 2022, when Ko was mayor. They showed that the education and social welfare departments were aware of the complaints, but passed the buck to each other and failed to follow up, with a document marked: “Noted and filed for reference.”
The city government on Friday last week announced 10 steps to improve policies and said the two departments would face a performance review committee.
It might be a relief to some parents that the preschool was shut down. The Taipei District Court is expected to reach a verdict in the case next month, and the city government has admitted its negligence and promised to revise its policies to prevent similar cases, including requiring the immediate suspension of suspects from teaching once a sexual assault report is made.
However, while seeking justice and holding officials accountable are important, the harm caused to victims and their family is irreparable. The victims should be carefully supported.
Laws must also be reviewed to better define which government agencies are responsible for handling such cases.
Moreover, the case is also a reminder for parents and schools to reconsider when they should start teaching children about the difference between appropriate and inappropriate touching to prevent sexual abuse. Parents and schools should trust children when they report uncomfortable experiences, while education and social welfare officials should receive periodic training so that they can handle such cases better.
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus in the Legislative Yuan has made an internal decision to freeze NT$1.8 billion (US$54.7 million) of the indigenous submarine project’s NT$2 billion budget. This means that up to 90 percent of the budget cannot be utilized. It would only be accessible if the legislature agrees to lift the freeze sometime in the future. However, for Taiwan to construct its own submarines, it must rely on foreign support for several key pieces of equipment and technology. These foreign supporters would also be forced to endure significant pressure, infiltration and influence from Beijing. In other words,
As Taiwan’s domestic political crisis deepens, the opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) have proposed gutting the country’s national spending, with steep cuts to the critical foreign and defense ministries. While the blue-white coalition alleges that it is merely responding to voters’ concerns about corruption and mismanagement, of which there certainly has been plenty under Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and KMT-led governments, the rationales for their proposed spending cuts lay bare the incoherent foreign policy of the KMT-led coalition. Introduced on the eve of US President Donald Trump’s inauguration, the KMT’s proposed budget is a terrible opening
“I compare the Communist Party to my mother,” sings a student at a boarding school in a Tibetan region of China’s Qinghai province. “If faith has a color,” others at a different school sing, “it would surely be Chinese red.” In a major story for the New York Times this month, Chris Buckley wrote about the forced placement of hundreds of thousands of Tibetan children in boarding schools, where many suffer physical and psychological abuse. Separating these children from their families, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) aims to substitute itself for their parents and for their religion. Buckley’s reporting is
Last week, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), together holding more than half of the legislative seats, cut about NT$94 billion (US$2.85 billion) from the yearly budget. The cuts include 60 percent of the government’s advertising budget, 10 percent of administrative expenses, 3 percent of the military budget, and 60 percent of the international travel, overseas education and training allowances. In addition, the two parties have proposed freezing the budgets of many ministries and departments, including NT$1.8 billion from the Ministry of National Defense’s Indigenous Defense Submarine program — 90 percent of the program’s proposed
RSS