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Minister of culture abandons support for ‘sunshine bill’
TURNAROUND: Despite being on record lauding the 1993 legislation, Lung Ying-tai called media inquiries about her wealth invasive and awkward
By Yang Ming-yi / Staff reporter
Having abandoned her support of publicizing the private property of government officials, Minister of Culture Lung Ying-tai (龍應台) characterized media reports about her personal wealth as invasions of her privacy.
After the Control Yuan released the latest list of property owned by government officials, some media outlets questioned how Lung was able to repay a NT$10.6 million (US$354,000) house loan in just a year.
Lung criticized the question as “very awkward,” adding that she would consult legal experts to see whether it constitutes a violation of her privacy.
“Certainly the ‘sunshine bill’ stipulates that government officials must make public information about their personal property, but I do not think it should go as far as allowing everyone to see it,” Lung said. “This is against my understanding of civil rights; I think my rights have been violated.”
The minister was referring to the Act on Property Declaration by Public Servants (公職人員財產申報法), which was passed in 1993, that stipulates that all elected officials declare their property to the Control Yuan, which would then publicize the information to avoid irregular financial activities by government officials.
Despite Lung’s protest yesterday, during a meeting with the media in December 2012 — about six months after she became minister of culture — Lung said that she supported requiring officials to declare their property within three months of taking office, adding that no official in Taiwan is opposed to the measure.
At the time, she also said that the measure would help the public and the media to monitor government officials, saying “the more transparent, the better.”
Lung did not explain why she has changed her view.
source: Taipei Times
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