Page 27 - 2018 OUTLINE OF THE MINISTRY OF THE INTERIOR REPUBLIC OF CHINA
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Civil Affairs
VI. Deeply Rooted Religious Cultural Heritage
In order to preserve the pluralistic religious cultural heritage of Taiwan, and to integrate religious
knowledge and tourist information, the MOI will promote the "Taiwan Religious Culture Map" website
and APP which is the best guide to religious tourism in Taiwan, and increase the use of the "Religious
Knowledge+" online encyclopedia to enhance Taiwanese religious culture knowledge and quality.
Besides, the MOI keep assisting religious groups and traditional customs to advance with the times
in order to meet the public expectations by promoting The "Honor Faith with Morals for a Better
Tomorrow" Movement.
VII. Improvement of Mortuary Affairs
With changes of time and environment, people have been gradually changing their ideas on
funeral rituals. For example, the cremation ratio has risen from less than 50% to over 90% in the past
two decades. In fact, by the end of 2017, this cremation ratio will have reached 96.76%. To raise the
quality of service, the MOI has budgeted to help local governments with their funeral facilities and
to encourage ecological procedures. To date, there are 35 locations available for tree burial and
sprinklings of bone ashes. More than thirty thousand people have been served, and over a thousand
requests for sea burial have been granted. Because of this increasing public demand to improve
the quality of mortuary services, the government has created a professional system for mortuary
certification. In May 2014, the government began to issue the certificate of undertaker and it had
already issued 790 certificates by the end of 2017.
VIII. Research and Promotion of Popular Rituals
To protect the rights of victims and their family members of the February 28 Incident in applying
for compensation, the MOI successfully pushed through amendments to the February 28 Incident
Disposition and Compensation Act to extend the February 28 Incident compensation claiming deadline
for another four years from January 19, 2018. In order to promote the virtue of filial piety and construct
a harmonious society, the Filial Piety Award has been conducted annually since 2007. To emphasize
the value of Freedom of Speech, the MOI suggested April 7 as "Freedom of Speech Memorial Day,"
which then has become a national memorial day approved by the Executive Yuan. The MOI will hold a
ceremony jointly with relevant government agencies on that date to advocate the above meaning and
to deepen the democracy of the country.
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