Lawmakers serving on the Legislature’s Transportation Committee yesterday asked the Ministry of Transportation and Communications to raise the percentage of local workers and Aborigines employed at free trade ports in an amendment to the Act Governing the Establishment and Management of Free Trade Ports (自由貿易港區設置及管理條例).
Article 11 in the statute requires that business owners inside free trade ports hire Aborigines, who must account for 5 percent of their total employees. Those who fail to reach the 5 percent threshold must pay a deficiency subsidy. The same article also requires that local employees account for at least 60 percent of the total workforce at a company.
The amendment does not change the regulations for local employees, but has dropped the percentage of Aborigines from 5 percent to between 1 percent and 3 percent.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Tsao Erh-chang (曹爾忠) said the ministry should set identical standards for jobs reserved for Aborigines in both free trade ports and a draft bill that will govern the establishment and management of the Taoyuan International Airport Zone. The latter has yet to be passed by the legislature.
The Council of Economic Planning and Development previously oversaw the statute.
“Since the ministry has already set a 3 percent requirement in the airport zone, why don’t they have the same requirements here [free trade ports]?” Tsao asked.
Another KMT legislator, Yang Jen-fu (楊仁福), who is an Aborigine, said that there were 97 companies operating at the free trade ports and that only 16 of them had fulfilled the government’s requirement.
He said that a majority of them had failed to observe the rule, not because they were unable to find qualified personnel who were Aborigines, but because they wanted to hire foreign laborers.
Yang later asked a representative from the Council of the Indigenous Peoples whether he had been approached by any company in the free trade ports to recommend potentially qualified candidates. The representative said they had recommended some, but none of the companies wanted to hire them.
“Everybody says they love Taiwan, but they don’t love my people [Aborigines],” Yang said. “They say they can’t find workers, but that is just an excuse. The government has offered these companies many tax benefits. How can they simply ignore the rules and disregard the interests of local employees?”
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chen Ying (陳瑩) said that only those companies that have more than 100 employees can fulfill the 1 percent requirement and that only three companies in the free trade ports have more than 100 employees.
KMT Legislator Lee Hung-chun (李鴻鈞) said now that the nation is suffering an unemployment rate of about 6 percent, the ministry should increase the number of local workers and Aborigines required to help create job opportunities.
The committee is scheduled to continue its discussion of the amendment today.
Commenting on the proposed amendment, Association for Taiwan Indigenous People’s Policies member Hsiao Shih-hui (蕭世輝) said it has always been the group’s view that “the percentage of employment opportunities for Aborigines should be protected so that it is the same as the percentage of Aborigines in the population.”
Aborigines account for about 2 percent of the total population.
Taiwan Aboriginal Society chairman Wang Ming-huei (汪明輝) supported Hsiao’s idea.
“It’s unacceptable to cut the percentage to below the percentage of Aborigines in the population — the reduction from 5 percent to 1 percent is too much,” Wang said.
He also criticized the Council of Indigenous Peoples (CIP) for not trying to stop the plan during a Cabinet meeting.
“The CIP is not speaking for Aborigines,” he said.
Obay a Awi, the Saisiat National Assembly spokesman, said the revision is “something that all Aborigines — not only Saisiat — should oppose.”
CIP Health and Social Welfare Department Director Alang Manglavan said the council would respect whatever decision the Cabinet and legislature made.
“As part of the Cabinet, we respect the Cabinet’s position on the issue. As the amendment has been submitted to the legislature for review, we will fully respect the legislature’s decision on it,” he said.
CHANGING LANDSCAPE: Many of the part-time programs for educators were no longer needed, as many teachers obtain a graduate degree before joining the workforce, experts said Taiwanese universities this year canceled 86 programs, Ministry of Education data showed, with educators attributing the closures to the nation’s low birthrate as well as shifting trends. Fifty-three of the shuttered programs were part-time postgraduate degree programs, about 62 percent of the total, the most in the past five years, the data showed. National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) discontinued the most part-time master’s programs, at 16: chemistry, life science, earth science, physics, fine arts, music, special education, health promotion and health education, educational psychology and counseling, education, design, Chinese as a second language, library and information sciences, mechatronics engineering, history, physical education
The Chinese military has boosted its capability to fight at a high tempo using the element of surprise and new technology, the Ministry of National Defense said in the Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) published on Monday last week. The ministry highlighted Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) developments showing significant changes in Beijing’s strategy for war on Taiwan. The PLA has made significant headway in building capabilities for all-weather, multi-domain intelligence, surveillance, operational control and a joint air-sea blockade against Taiwan’s lines of communication, it said. The PLA has also improved its capabilities in direct amphibious assault operations aimed at seizing strategically important beaches,
‘MALIGN PURPOSE’: Governments around the world conduct espionage operations, but China’s is different, as its ultimate goal is annexation, a think tank head said Taiwan is facing a growing existential threat from its own people spying for China, experts said, as the government seeks to toughen measures to stop Beijing’s infiltration efforts and deter Taiwanese turncoats. While Beijing and Taipei have been spying on each other for years, experts said that espionage posed a bigger threat to Taiwan due to the risk of a Chinese attack. Taiwan’s intelligence agency said China used “diverse channels and tactics” to infiltrate the nation’s military, government agencies and pro-China organizations. The main targets were retired and active members of the military, persuaded by money, blackmail or pro-China ideology to steal
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