President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said yesterday that Taiwan is a young democracy that still has a long way to go to reach maturity.
Speaking at an international conference in Taipei, the president said that Taiwan first held direct elections at the local level in the early 1950s and that the practice was then incrementally expanded until it was embraced at the national level.
DETERMINED
“During that period, relations between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait remained tense and several major battles took place, but that did not deter Taiwan in its determination to pursue the goal of democracy,” Ma told a conference held in Taipei titled “A Spectacular Century: The Republic of China Centennial Democracy Forum.”
Taiwan lifted martial law in 1987 after 38 years and gradually moved toward full democracy, he said.
That involved revising the Constitution to introduce more democratic practices, including in 1996, the first direct presidential election.
To date there have now been four direct presidential elections and two transfers of power between two political parties, he added.
BEACON
In a congratulatory telegram received after he was elected president in March 2008, Ma said that then-US president George W. Bush referred to Taiwan as “a beacon of democracy to Asia and the world.”
“We are gratified at our democratic achievements, but we also understand that we are still a young democracy, and we have a long way to go to achieve full democratic maturity,” Ma said.
GOOD RESULTS
Taiwanese elections have achieved good results both in terms of the level of voter turnout and election format, with final vote tallies provided just two hours after the polls close, he said.
However, political polarization, vote buying and smear campaigns, which are still commonplace, have hampered further democratic development Ma 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
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
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
Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) yesterday appealed to the authorities to release former Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) from pretrial detention amid conflicting reports about his health. The TPP at a news conference on Thursday said that Ko should be released to a hospital for treatment, adding that he has blood in his urine and had spells of pain and nausea followed by vomiting over the past three months. Hsieh Yen-yau (謝炎堯), a retired professor of internal medicine and Ko’s former teacher, said that Ko’s symptoms aligned with gallstones, kidney inflammation and potentially dangerous heart conditions. Ko, charged with
RSS