TSAI UNHAPPY POLICY INCENSE REDUCTION POLICY UNCLEAR|"減香"網傳成"滅香" 總統不滿內政部未澄清

To improve air quality, the EPA has been trying to get temples across the country to ease it off on incense-burning. But the policy has been taken by many as an attack on the several-century-long tradition. An unhappy President Tsai Ying-wen now blames her party for not have communicated the policy clearly enough. Interior Minister Ye Chun-jung says that the relevant authorities should clearly state the reasons and benefits of the policy. EPA Minister Lee Ying-yuan stressed that he never said to destroy the practise of incense-burning. Temple representatives will come to protest outside the presidential office, and hold a non-stop incense burning protest. To reduce the burning of incense, setting off firecrackers and other temple activities that release a lot of PM2.5, last year the EPA put out an advert encouraging temples to cut these activities. However, the reduce incense policy was recently dubbed the destroy incense policy. On Sunday hundreds of temples plan to take to Kategelen Boulevard to protest. On July 19, at the DPP's CSC, President Tsai Ing-wen expressed her disatisfaction that her policy had not been clarified to religious authorities by the Ministry of the Interior. ==YEH CHUN-RONG MOI Minister== The MOI has never had any law or regulation forbidding this. The MOI thinks that there should be clarification from the EPA which is the authority for air quality. The EPA Minister Lee Ying-yuan said that he had never said that the practise of burning incense should be completely halted. ==LEE YING-YUAN EPA Minister == You cannot lie when you offer three sticks of incense before the gods, never at any point have we said that we want to get rid of incese, I myself offer incense every morning to the Earth God. Yunlin's Beigang Wude Temple planned the protest scheduled for Sunday, and emphasised that traditional believers cannot give up incense and so the protest wod proceed as planned. ==LIN AN-LE Chair, Beigang Wude Temple== They are all just playing with words, the policy wants substitutes for burning incense and paper money, that is the same as wanting them to disappear. Taipei City's Lungshan Temple implemented a one incense stick one censer policy in May this year and says that the practise will not die out straightaway but needs to take hold gradually. == CHANG HSUEH-LING Head, Lungshan Temple service committee== We didn't dare to implement it in one fell swoop, that would be too drastic, so we started with offering 21 sticks of incense and then it became seven and then it became three. The EPA said that burning incense, paper money and setting off firecrackers creates a large amount of air pollution and each year it had over 3,000 complaints from the public about this showing their lack of tolerance for this type of pollution. If it was not possible to change the habit within a short time, then the issue would be tackled from source and the quality of imported incense and paper would be controlled. TRANSLATED BY：CLARE LEAR 為改善空汙，環保署推動宮廟減香，不過，減香政策近期在網路上，已被傳為「滅香滅爐」，對此，總統蔡英文昨天在民進黨中常會，不滿寺廟的主管機關內政部，沒有對外好好澄清。今天，內政部長葉俊榮表示，應由相關機關、明確說明。環保署長李應元則強調，從沒說過要滅香。但宮廟代表，週日還是要照常北上總統府，舉行「香火不能斷」大遊行。 為降低焚香、鞭炮釋放的細懸浮微粒，影響空氣品質，環保署去年推出政令廣告宣導，但「減香」政策近期在網路，已被傳成「滅香」政策，甚至週日有百間宮廟將站上凱道頂轎抗議。對此，總統蔡英文19號在民進黨中常會上表達不滿，質疑為何宗教主管機關、內政部，不出來澄清？ ==內政部長 葉俊榮== 內政部從來沒有用任何法律 或者是什麼規定 要去禁止 內政部認為應該說清楚的，是主責空汙的環保署，而上午參加活動的署長李應元，則搬出神明作擔保，澄清從沒說過要滅香。 ==環保署長 李應元== 舉頭三寸有神明 在神明面前 我們不能夠講謊話 我們從頭到尾沒有滅香 我本身每天早上 都會向土地公獻上一炷香 發起週日北上總統府抗議的雲林北港武德宮強調，傳統信仰不能消滅，因此抗議行動會如期進行。 ==北港武德宮主委 林安樂== 大家都是在文字上去玩遊戲 （政策)替代拜香及金紙 意思也是讓香跟金紙消失嘛 已經在今年五月減為一香一爐的龍山寺認為，減香減爐急不得，需要時間逐步推動。 ==龍山寺寺務組組長 張雪玲== 其實我們(當初)也不敢一次就做 做到就是太那個 所以我們從一開始有21支香 然後減成7支香 然後再由7支香減成3支香 環保署重申，燒香、金紙與放鞭炮，會製造大量空氣汙染，一年接獲民眾投訴達三千多件，可見民眾不堪其擾，若短時間無法減量，則希望從源頭下手，管制進口香品跟紙錢的品質。