A band of elderly leprosy survivors descended upon the Legislative Yuan and Executive Yuan yesterday in a bid to prevent the planned destruction of their home and former prison of the past 50 years in Taipei County.
Waving fists and chanting slogans, over twenty wheelchair-bound seniors and their supporters camped outside the Executive Yuan early yesterday afternoon, Cheered on by supporters from over twenty social groups, the seniors called on the government to stop their home, Lo-Sheng Hospital, from being torn down next month to make way for the Taipei City Hsinchuang MRT factory while they are forcibly moved to a nearby high-rise.
PHOTO: CHRN TZE-MING, TAIPEI TIMES
The Executive Yuan told protestors that it would enter negotiations with the groups this coming Monday on the issue. But the seniors responded that the meeting was not enough and moved their protest to the Legislative Yuan, where Premier Yu Shyi-kun was being questioned.
After calling for Yu to come out, the protestors were met by Taipei County Legislator Wang Tuo (王拓), who promised to relay their message to Taipei City Ma Ying-jeou (
Protestors emphasized yesterday that Lo-sheng Hospital and its residents should be given special consideration from the government because of the important and tragic role they have played in Taiwan's medical history.
The hospital was created as the nation's sole government-supported home for leprosy victims in 1930 during Japanese rule in Taiwan, explained protest co-organizer and Youth Lo-Sheng Alliance founder Fan Yen-chiou (
Given the stigma about leprosy, residents at Lo-Sheng were essentially placed in a government-enforced quarantine for the past fifty years, said Fan, also a history professor at National Taiwan University for Science and Technology.
Medical advancements have cured the 300-odd seniors of their condition, although most still bear disfiguring marks from the disease. However, the fifty years that most residents spent at Lo-Sheng have made them consider the hospital their home, and it's unfair of the government to kick them out, Fan said yesterday.
"These seniors have been forced to sacrifice for the public good. The government should respect their wishes and make it up to the residents for their years of isolation," said Fan.
The government's decision to tear down Lo-Sheng and move the seniors to a nearby high-rise may at first glance seem humane. But the residents and their supporters say it's actually unfair to them, since many have physical handicaps as a result of leprosy and use four-wheel scooters. Besides having established their lives in the local community surrounding Lo-Sheng, the new set-up will inconvenience many of the seniors, who should be allowed to just live their lives in peace, said Taiwan Association for Human Rights (TAHR) director Wu Hau-jen (吳豪人) yesterday.
The protest, organized by university students in the Youth Lo-Sheng Alliance, the Lo-Sheng Rescue Alliance, the TAHR, and other groups, called for the government to first, guarantee the human rights of the seniors and not remove the residents from their home. Second, the government should assume responsibility and classify Lo-Sheng as a protected national historical site. Third, the government should coordinate with Taipei City's Department of Rapid Transit Systems (DORTS) to postpone construction on the MRT factory until the hospital's classification has been finalized. And fourth, the government should establish a committee to determine an alternate plan for construction that will satisfy both the DORTS and the residents.
Despite the Executive Yuan's promise that it will meet with the groups Monday, the prospects look bleak for Lo-Sheng, said Wu Jaizhen (
"We will keep protesting if the government does not stop construction," Wu said. "However, the seniors have no power at the ballot box. It is unlikely that they will be heard."
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday said it is fully aware of the situation following reports that the son of ousted Chinese politician Bo Xilai (薄熙來) has arrived in Taiwan and is to marry a Taiwanese. Local media reported that Bo Guagua (薄瓜瓜), son of the former member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, is to marry the granddaughter of Luodong Poh-Ai Hospital founder Hsu Wen-cheng (許文政). The pair met when studying abroad and arranged to get married this year, with the wedding breakfast to be held at The One holiday resort in Hsinchu
The Taipei Zoo on Saturday said it would pursue legal action against a man who was filmed climbing over a railing to tease and feed spotted hyenas in their enclosure earlier that day. In videos uploaded to social media on Saturday, a man can be seen climbing over a protective railing and approaching a ledge above the zoo’s spotted hyena enclosure, before dropping unidentified objects down to two of the animals. The Taipei Zoo in a statement said the man’s actions were “extremely inappropriate and even illegal.” In addition to monitoring the hyenas’ health, the zoo would collect evidence provided by the public
‘SIGN OF DANGER’: Beijing has never directly named Taiwanese leaders before, so China is saying that its actions are aimed at the DPP, a foundation official said National Security Bureau (NSB) Director-General Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥) yesterday accused Beijing of spreading propaganda, saying that Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) had singled out President William Lai (賴清德) in his meeting with US President Joe Biden when talking about those whose “true nature” seek Taiwanese independence. The Biden-Xi meeting took place on the sidelines of the APEC summit in Peru on Saturday. “If the US cares about maintaining peace across the Taiwan Strait, it is crucial that it sees clearly the true nature of Lai and the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in seeking Taiwanese independence, handles the Taiwan question with extra
A road safety advocacy group yesterday called for reforms to the driver licensing and retraining system after a pedestrian was killed and 15 other people were injured in a two-bus collision in Taipei. “Taiwan’s driver’s licenses are among the easiest to obtain in the world, and there is no mandatory retraining system for drivers,” Taiwan Vision Zero Alliance, a group pushing to reduce pedestrian fatalities, said in a news release. Under the regulations, people who have held a standard car driver’s license for two years and have completed a driver training course are eligible to take a test
RSS