About 200 people who live within the boundaries of Kenting National Park in Pingtung County forced their way into the Legislative Yuan yesterday as an Internal Administration Committee meeting was in progress to protest against the National Park Act (國家公園法).
Holding signs that read “We want our right to survival” and “The National Park Act is illegitimate and unjust,” the residents forced their way through a side gate and tried to get into the meeting room as soon as they learned that the Internal Administration Committee had begun an article-by-article review of revisions to the act.
In recent weeks, the Internal Administration Committee has been reviewing amendment proposals made by both the Cabinet and lawmakers to the National Park Act, the first since it was enacted in 1972.
However, Kenting residents — many of whom lived in the area before it was designated a national park in 1982 — worry that the stricter regulations in the proposed amendments could limit their freedoms.
While in its current form Article 17 stipulates that construction or demolition of public or private buildings must obtain government approval, the proposed revision adds that repairs must also be approved by the authorities.
“My house is very old and I need to do repair work on it from time to time. Will I have to wait for my house to collapse if my application to renovate it is rejected?” a protester asked through a loudspeaker.
“We want lawmakers to hear what we have to say,” local borough chief Tsai Cheng-jung (蔡正榮) said. “There have been too many restrictions on our daily lives since Kenting National Park was created. It doesn’t make sense to make the laws even more strict.”
Tsai said the Ministry of the Interior (MOI) — which manages national parks — had not organized public hearings to hear residents’ opinions before making the proposals.
Police officers guarding the legislature attempted to prevent the protesters from entering the compound, but as there were only about a dozen police at the scene, the demonstrators were able to go in.
When protesters discovered that the doors to the meeting room were locked, they tried to get in through a connecting room next door, but were pushed back by police.
Protesters finally agreed to leave after Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Wu Yu-sheng (吳育昇), who presided over the meeting, called it off and asked the MOI to hold public hearings before any further reviews.
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Tien Chiu-chin (田秋堇) said national parks should be divided into “urban” and “natural reserves.”
“In urban national parks, such as Kenting and Yangmingshan, where people have lived for generations, we should loosen restrictions to make it easier for residents,” she said. “For national parks with little human activity, such as Yushan National Park, however, we could make laws more strict to protect the ecosystem.”
WANG RELEASED: A police investigation showed that an organized crime group allegedly taught their clients how to pretend to be sick during medical exams Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) and 11 others were released on bail yesterday, after being questioned for allegedly dodging compulsory military service or forging documents to help others avoid serving. Wang, 33, was catapulted into stardom for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代). Lately, he has been focusing on developing his entertainment career in China. The New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office last month began investigating an organized crime group that is allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified documents. Police in New Taipei City Yonghe Precinct at the end of last month arrested the main suspect,
A cat named Mikan (蜜柑) has brought in revenue of more than NT$10 million (US$305,390) for the Kaohsiung MRT last year. Mikan, born on April 4, 2020, was a stray cat before being adopted by personnel of Kaohsiung MRT’s Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station. Mikan was named after a Japanese term for mandarin orange due to his color and because he looks like an orange when curled up. He was named “station master” of Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station in September 2020, and has since become famous. With Kaohsiung MRT’s branding, along with the release of a set of cultural and creative products, station master Mikan
LITTORAL REGIMENTS: The US Marine Corps is transitioning to an ‘island hopping’ strategy to counterattack Beijing’s area denial strategy The US Marine Corps (USMC) has introduced new anti-drone systems to bolster air defense in the Pacific island chain amid growing Chinese military influence in the region, The Telegraph reported on Sunday. The new Marine Air Defense Integrated System (MADIS) Mk 1 is being developed to counter “the growing menace of unmanned aerial systems,” it cited the Marine Corps as saying. China has constructed a powerful defense mechanism in the Pacific Ocean west of the first island chain by deploying weapons such as rockets, submarines and anti-ship missiles — which is part of its anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) strategy against adversaries — the
Eleven people, including actor Darren Wang (王大陸), were taken into custody today for questioning regarding the evasion of compulsory military service and document forgery, the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said. Eight of the people, including Wang, are suspected of evading military service, while three are suspected of forging medical documents to assist them, the report said. They are all being questioned by police and would later be transferred to the prosecutors’ office for further investigation. Three men surnamed Lee (李), Chang (張) and Lin (林) are suspected of improperly assisting conscripts in changing their military classification from “stand-by
RSS