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.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and