The outcry in the Aboriginal community over recent comments by Vice President Annette Lu (
Members of the nation's 12 Aboriginal peoples, including 11 of the 12 Aboriginal legislators, denounced Lu at a press conference, calling on her and Chen to issue a public apology to indigenous people.
"We are protesting against racism. We are doing this for our very survival," Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lin Cheng-er (
PHOTO: CHIEN JUNG-FENG, TAIPEI TIMES
Protest organizers said that they were hoping for 3,000 people to attend tomorrow's protest in front of the Presidential Office on Ketagalan Blvd in Taipei. It is scheduled to start at 3:30pm and end at 10pm.
The organizers hope to put on a consolidated show of force by the Aboriginal community against Lu for claiming two weeks ago that Aboriginal people were not the original inhabitants of Taiwan, and suggesting that mountain-dwelling victims of Tropical Storm Mindulle move to Central America.
Despite accusations of racism from indigenous people and their representatives nationwide, Lu has steadfastly refused to apologize, although Chen has urged them to forgive "certain people who made unintended remarks."
Elsewhere, in the village of Wushe in Nantou County, Aboriginal protesters in traditional dress and armed with ceremonial machetes lined up to fire homemade hunting rifles in front of a statue of a famed Aboriginal chieftain to express anger over Lu's comments.
Monaludao, an Atayal chieftain who led an ill-fated battle against Japanese troops in and around Wushe in 1930, is a long-standing symbol of Aboriginal resistance.
The shooting of the guns was only meant to be symbolic, but Nantou police are now investigating the incident to see if weapons offenses were committed.
second protest
Tomorrow's gathering in Taipei will be the second protest staged in relation to Lu's comments. The first was a short-lived hunger strike staged by independent Legislator May Chin (
Organizers stressed that this time all participants ought to be indigenous people.
"We are very thankful for the support that many different groups have given the Aboriginal community in this matter. But Saturday is a time for the Aboriginal community to stand up for itself," said KMT Legislator Liao Kuo-tung (廖國棟), the chief protest organizer.
Liao said that organizers were working on ways to keep the protest peaceful, unlike the earlier effort, which was marred by a minor scuffle between police and supportive bystanders. Tomorrow's rally would be officially approved, he said.
Although the legislators' primary demand is a public apology from Chen and Lu, Tsai said that apologies were not enough and had to be backed by a commitment to making improvements to indigenous policy.
Responding to accusations that they were acting out of political self-interest, the legislators said they would be competing against one another in December's elections.
"Some people have said that we are doing this for votes, but they are wrong. We are all competing from different parties, but we are standing here together, because Lu has broken the hearts of the Aboriginal people," said protest co-organizer and PFP Legislator Lin Chun-te (林春德).
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Tao-ming (
"Protest? What protest? They didn't ask me to take part in it," he told the Taipei Times.
Chen Tao-ming, who told reporters last week that Lu was out of line, claimed that the other Aboriginal legislators were ignoring him because he was in the ruling party.
"This is just a political move," he said.
CAUTION: Based on intelligence from the nation’s security agencies, MOFA has cautioned Taiwanese travelers about heightened safety risks in China-friendly countries The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday urged Taiwanese to be aware of their safety when traveling abroad, especially in countries that are friendly to China. China in June last year issued 22 guidelines that allow its courts to try in absentia and sentence to death so-called “diehard” Taiwanese independence activists, even though Chinese courts have no jurisdiction in Taiwan. Late last month, a senior Chinese official gave closed-door instructions to state security units to implement the guidelines in countries friendly to China, a government memo and a senior Taiwan security official said, based on information gathered by Taiwan’s intelligence agency. The
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, said yesterday that it is looking to hire 8,000 people this year, at a time when the tech giant is expanding production capacity to maintain its lead over competitors. To attract talent, TSMC would launch a large-scale recruitment campaign on campuses across Taiwan, where a newly recruited engineer with a master’s degree could expect to receive an average salary of NT$2.2 million (US$60,912), which is much higher than the 2023 national average of NT$709,000 for those in the same category, according to government statistics. TSMC, which accounted for more than 60 percent
Tung Tzu-hsien (童子賢), a Taiwanese businessman and deputy convener of the nation’s National Climate Change Committee, said yesterday that “electrical power is national power” and nuclear energy is “very important to Taiwan.” Tung made the remarks, suggesting that his views do not align with the country’s current official policy of phasing out nuclear energy, at a forum organized by the Taiwan People’s Party titled “Challenges and Prospects of Taiwan’s AI Industry and Energy Policy.” “Taiwan is currently pursuing industries with high added- value and is developing vigorously, and this all requires electricity,” said the chairman
‘POOP ON STAGE’: The song, which talks about the reluctance to graduate and anxiety about a lack of job opportunities, resonated with many students’ feelings The original song Poop on Stage has been chosen as National Taiwan University’s (NTU) graduation song this year, sparking much debate regarding the song’s title and content, which describes students’ anxiety about post-graduation unemployment. The title, Shang Tai Da Bian (上台大便), is a play on words that literally means “go on stage to poop.” The first three characters, shang tai da (上台大), also mean “to attend NTU,” as “Taida” is a common abbreviation for the university. The last character, bian (便), can mean “convenient” or “then,” but is more commonly associated with defecation. The lyrics of the song describe students’ reluctance to graduate and
RSS