Peace & Order Amid the Pandemic, the Big Gap in the Social Safety Net?

Peace & Order Amid the Pandemic, the Big Gap in the Social Safety Net?

United Daily News Editorial (Taipei, Taiwan)

April 19, 2020

 Translation of an Excerpt

Shrouded by the coronavirus pandemic, our countrymen stared at the figures of confirmed cases, their emotions reverberate with the figures, their lives being affected as well, and the economy is sufferings even greater effects. The government has focused all its attention and efforts on the deployment of pandemic control and the production capacity of facial masks, while the ruling and opposition parties have also been arguing over economic bailouts and revitalization. Recently, a number of social cases such as sporadic killings and robberies have been submerged by the pandemic situation. However, peace and order is the most important infrastructure construction for civilizing society; peace and order under the pandemic has virtually become a big gap in the social safety net.

So far, Taiwan has been doing well in controlling the pandemic, but we can see traces of instability in peace and order, which will probably cause a greater impact on the populace than the pandemic situation itself. During her inaugural address four years ago, President Tsai Ing-wen made commitments to peace and order, stressing that the government must shoulder and strengthen the social safety net, saying that "A government cannot always say it was being shocked, it must have empathy". Four years has lapsed, peace and order cases have given Tsai Ing-wen's commitments serious and stringent scrutiny. Recently, horrifying social cases have been frequently reported under the impact of the pandemic, while the government doesn’t seem to be shocked, the people, on the other hand, have become startled.

There is a Chen Shih-chung for pandemic control, who may sing loudly when facing the pandemic situation, "with the government, please rest assured". However, for the big gap in the social safety net, where is the Chen Shih-chung for peace and order?

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