The Legislative Yuan passed the 18-year-old civil rights amendment bill unanimously today, which included the KMT caucus unanimously voting in favor. The KMT said that the 18-year-old civil rights idea was first proposed by Eric Chu, the KMT’s party chairman, and was the first article of the KMT’s constitutional amendment proposal. Today, with concrete actions of support, the KMT legislators have smashed the DPP’s false claim that the KMT boycotted the 18-year-old citizen rights revision of the Constitution, and even wrote a new chapter in deepening Taiwan’s democracy.
The KMT pointed out that the civil rights of the 18-year-old is the first article of the KMT’s constitutional amendment proposal. The DPP falsely accused the KMT of boycotting young people, which is indeed a low-level political operation. In fact, supporting the civil rights of 18-year-olds is in line with the trend of the world, and specially China has amended the referendum law so that 18-year-olds can help decide the future policy direction. In the future, the Civil Code will also be synchronized with the Criminal Code, so that the age of maturity will be lowered to 18 years old, and if this particular civil right of 18-year-olds can be affirmed through constitutional amendments, it is believed that the rights and obligations of young people will be truly guaranteed equally.
In addition, the KMT pointed out that the revision of the Constitution is a very important policy change in Taiwan, and it is necessary to deal with various major issues in line with the development trend of the world. The KMT also advocates that constitutional amendments such as the “right to animal protection”, the “right to environment” in response to climate change, and the reform of government system should be discussed; however, the ruling party not only does not respect the opinions of the opposition parties and society, it ignores the high expectations of civil society, and refuses to be included in the discussion of this constitutional amendment.
