An overwhelming majority of Taiwanese are opposed to decriminalizing adultery, the Ministry of Justice said on Thursday.
The finding is the result of two opinion polls conducted earlier this year, the ministry said.
In a survey conducted in April, 82.2 percent of respondents gave the thumbs-down to decriminalization and only 16.8 percent supported it, the ministry said.
However, after the results of the poll were published by the news media, some academics and advocacy groups questioned the credibility of the findings, accusing the ministry of failing to offer sufficient information to help respondents better understand the general world trend in legislation regarding adultery.
The ministry should have briefed the respondents on current criminal regulations governing adultery, as some respondents might have thought that prosecution of adulterers is the only way to maintain the existing family system, they said.
The ministry should have also proposed supplementary measures that could have made decriminalizing adultery more acceptable, they said.
To address these concerns, the ministry conducted a second survey last month, but this time, the respondents were briefed on regulations governing adultery in the Civil Code and the Criminal Code.
The poll included questions about international trends on promoting gender equality and revising existing laws to meet such standards.
However, the latest survey still found that 77.3 percent of respondents were opposed to decriminalizing adultery.
Those who opposed decriminalization also reached nearly 70 percent even if they were told that the Civil Code would be revised to minimize any possible negative impact of the decriminalization of adultery, the ministry said.
Each of the surveys collected more than 1,700 valid samples, with margins of error of less than 3 percent, it added.
Hong Kong singer Andy Lau’s (劉德華) concert in Taipei tonight has been cancelled due to Typhoon Kong-rei and is to be held at noon on Saturday instead, the concert organizer SuperDome said in a statement this afternoon. Tonight’s concert at Taipei Arena was to be the first of four consecutive nightly performances by Lau in Taipei, but it was called off at the request of Taipei Metro, the operator of the venue, due to the weather, said the organizer. Taipei Metro said the concert was cancelled out of consideration for the audience’s safety. The decision disappointed a number of Lau’s fans who had
Commuters in Taipei picked their way through debris and navigated disrupted transit schedules this morning on their way to work and school, as the city was still working to clear the streets in the aftermath of Typhoon Kong-rey. By 11pm yesterday, there were estimated 2,000 trees down in the city, as well as 390 reports of infrastructure damage, 318 reports of building damage and 307 reports of fallen signs, the Taipei Public Works Department said. Workers were mobilized late last night to clear the debris as soon as possible, the department said. However, as of this morning, many people were leaving messages
A Canadian dental assistant was recently indicted by prosecutors after she was caught in August trying to smuggle 32kg of marijuana into Taiwan, the Aviation Police Bureau said on Wednesday. The 30-year-old was arrested on Aug. 4 after arriving on a flight to Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, Chang Tsung-lung (張驄瀧), a squad chief in the Aviation Police Bureau’s Criminal Investigation Division, told reporters. Customs officials noticed irregularities when the woman’s two suitcases passed through X-ray baggage scanners, Chang said. Upon searching them, officers discovered 32.61kg of marijuana, which local media outlets estimated to have a market value of more than NT$50 million (US$1.56
FATALITIES: The storm claimed at least two lives — a female passenger in a truck that was struck by a falling tree and a man who was hit by a utility pole Workers cleared fallen trees and shop owners swept up debris yesterday after one of the biggest typhoons to hit the nation in decades claimed at least two lives. Typhoon Kong-rey was packing winds of 184kph when it slammed into eastern Taiwan on Thursday, uprooting trees, triggering floods and landslides, and knocking out power as it swept across the nation. A 56-year-old female foreign national died from her injuries after the small truck she was in was struck by a falling tree on Provincial Highway 14A early on Thursday. The second death was reported at 8pm in Taipei on Thursday after a 48-year-old man
RSS