SARS Epidemic Worsens In Taiwan--Home Quarantines Are Often Violated By Shu Shin Luh

"Taiwan's too democratic to execute quarantine with an iron fist like Singapore," said Chiang Tung-liang, a professor of public health at National Taiwan University. "But more important, quarantining is disruptive to people's lives. The government needs to stand in the shoes of the quarantined and find a way to accommodate their needs."

How can you accommodate the needs of someone who's quarantined? Particularly when

The government says it has difficulty persuading people who do not feel sick to stay home for the quarantine period. More than two dozen residents of the Hua Chang apartments in Taipei tried to sneak away with their belongings recently when city health officials announced they were isolating the area because of suspected SARS cases. Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou threatened to publish the names of those who fled, but the city had difficulty tracking the escapees. The Hua Chang apartments have since been released from isolation.

The Taipei Times decries the fact that an

alarmingly high degree of selfishness is considered normal in this society.

The SARS epidemic is like a magic mirror that exposes demons in their true forms. It has revealed the black holes in the nation's healthcare system. It has also highlighted the government's powerlessness in the face of vicious partisan wrangling that has beset politics in this nation for so long. Above all, it has revealed the deplorable state of civic awareness.

The bloated egotism of the Taiwanese cannot be blamed solely on their selective adoption of Western democracy and human-rights concepts. The Taiwan-ese have inherited the Chinese habit of flouting and bending the law and placing themselves and their family above the needs of society.

A huge ego means that many people have no problem demanding the government and healthcare workers wage an all-out war against SARS, while also demanding their individual freedoms not be abridged the slightest bit. Reflected in the SARS mirror, the Taiwanese ideas about democracy and human rights appear shallow. The people have mistaken anarchy for democracy, selfishness for human rights. Hence the high-flown talk about "rights" at every turn couples with an obliviousness about "responsibilities."

Finally, back in China: ERIK ECKHOLM writes China Threatens Execution in Intentional Spreading of SARS. That's not necessarily a good idea; people with SARS might be tempted to hide instead of seek treatment, not to mention the fact that they might be punished unjustly to provide an example, like the doctor in Man's Virus Infects Town, Killing His Family by JOSEPH KAHN.