Saying that their right to secret voting is not properly protected, a group of Aboriginal voters yesterday staged a demonstration outside the Council of Indigenous Peoples (CIP), asking it to help negotiate for a better system.
“CIP please help out! Give us back the right to secret voting,” dozens of demonstrators mobilized by Kumu Hacio, an independent candidate for the mountain Aborigine seat on the Greater Tainan City Council shouted as they stood outside the council.
CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT
“The secret ballot is a right granted to everyone by the Constitution, but many Aboriginal voters do not enjoy the right because there are many polling stations with less than three Aboriginal voters casting their ballots in an election,” Kumu said.
Citing herself as an example, Kumu said that when she voted in the 2008 legislative election, there were only two registered Aboriginal voters at her polling station in Syuejia Township (學甲), Tainan County.
“As soon as I arrived at the polling station, staffers greeted me by saying that they had been waiting for me for a long time,” Kumu said. “In that case, it’s actually not hard to guess for whom I voted.”
Under the Election and Recall Act for Public Servants (公職人員選舉罷免法), Aboriginal voters vote separately for lawmakers or councilors representing Aboriginal constituents.
Kumu went on to say that as many as 80 percent of polling stations in Tainan and Tainan County have less than three Aborigines, so many Aboriginal voters do not vote to avoid being identified.
Kumu petitioned the Central Election Commission (CEC) last month, and the commission agreed to shrink the number of polling stations for Aborigines from 600 to 450 in Greater Tainan. However, the change still leaves 66 percent of all polling stations in Greater Tainan with less than three Aboriginal voters.
“We’re petitioning to the CIP because this is not just an issue for Aboriginal voters in Tainan, but for all Aboriginal voters in metropolitan areas,” Kumu said. “So the council should negotiate with the CEC to see what they can do nationwide.”
PROMISES
CIP Chief Secretary Chen Cheng-chia (陳成家) received the demonstrators, and promised to talk to the CEC about it.
“We really can’t make any promises because we’re not in charge of holding elections, but as the highest administrative body representing Aborigines, we will talk to the CEC about the issue,” Chen 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
The National Immigration Agency (NIA) said yesterday that it will revoke the dependent-based residence permit of a Chinese social media influencer who reportedly “openly advocated for [China’s] unification through military force” with Taiwan. The Chinese national, identified by her surname Liu (劉), will have her residence permit revoked in accordance with Article 14 of the “Measures for the permission of family- based residence, long-term residence and settlement of people from the Mainland Area in the Taiwan Area,” the NIA said in a news release. The agency explained it received reports that Liu made “unifying Taiwan through military force” statements on her online
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
RSS