Taiwan mulls jail for abandoning elderly parents

TAIPEI—Adults in Taiwan who fail to look after their elderly parents could face jail under a new law being considered following rising cases of abandonment, a legislator said Friday.

Under the bill, people who abandon their elderly parents will face up to one year in prison or a maximum fine of Tw$200,000 ($6,600), said the office of lawmaker Lai Shyh-bao who proposed it.

They will also be forced to pay for their parents’ living expenses with mandatory deductions from their wages or by making a lump sum payment or putting money in a trust, according to the bill.

An estimated 2,000 people aged 65 and over are abandoned by their children each year, and the number of cases has grown by 30 percent annually in recent years, according to Lai’s office.

“This is an alarming trend that we cannot afford to ignore because it will lead to more and more social problems as Taiwan’s society ages rapidly,” his office said.

It said changing family values were the likely cause as some adults no longer have the same sense of responsibility toward their parents.

Traditional Chinese culture attaches great importance to filial piety and the revered ancient philosopher Confucius stressed that it was the foundation of all virtues.

The bill passed an initial review in parliament late Thursday and if enacted, Taiwan will join the few Asian countries such as Singapore that legally enforce taking care of elderly parents.

People aged 65 and over accounted for 10.6 percent of Taiwan’s 23 million population, the latest census showed, above the 7.0 percent level at which a society is defined as “ageing” by the World Health Organization.

Meanwhile, the island’s birth rate has plummeted to one of the world’s lowest in recent years, triggering concerns of serious social and economic problems from a severe manpower shortage.