Several Miaoli County politicians, including County Commissioner Liu Cheng-hung (劉政鴻), yesterday defended the controversial Dapu Borough (大埔) development project as “beneficial to the community” and accused “outsiders” of inciting protests against it.
“I was born and raised in Dapu, my family’s house was among those being expropriated and I am fully supportive of the project because it’s going to bring prosperity to the community,” Jhunan Township (竹南) Council Speaker Lin Shu-wen (林樹文) told a press conference at the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus office at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei yesterday morning.
“As much as 98 percent of landowners representing more than 900 households in the area have all agreed to the project. Why would they support it so much if it’s bad?” Lin asked
Photo: CNA
Dapu Borough Warden Cheng Wen-chin (鄭文進) added that all locals are supportive of the project and that none of the protesters are local residents.
“We Dapu residents are all celebrating the project, not a single person is opposed to it. Which of those who are protesting the project are from Dapu? Not even one,” Cheng said. “All of us in Dapu, in Jhunan and in the whole of Miaoli County support our commissioner.”
Dapu Self-Help Organization spokeswoman Yeh Hsiu-tao (葉秀桃) rebutted the remarks in a telephone interview.
“I don’t know what they are talking about. Every member of the self-help organization is a resident of Dapu, and all the members of the Youth Alliance for Miaoli are natives of Miaoli, if not of Dapu,” Yeh said.
She said that of course, if looking purely at the paperwork, local politicians can claim that the vast majority of local residents are supportive of the project.
“The truth is, most of the residents didn’t know they could say ‘no,’” Yeh said. “All of us received official letters from the county government some years ago asking us to provide our agreement [to the project] by a certain date, otherwise we could lose our right to receive compensation.”
“This is why, although a lot of residents are opposed to the project, they still returned their letters of agreement. They were afraid that they would lose everything if they didn’t do so,” she said.
Peng Hsiu-chun (彭秀春), another Dapu resident who opposes the project and whose house was forcibly demolished, also challenged the idea that no local residents are opposed to the project.
“Besides, I want to say that there’s nothing wrong with having people from elsewhere help us out,” Peng said in a telephone call. “This is not just a problem for Dapu. Such a tragedy could happen anywhere if the mechanism doesn’t change.”
Meanwhile, during the press conference, Liu rebutted allegations that he has “played tricks” to preserve houses belonging to his family while many houses in the future high-speed rail station development zone were flattened, so as to enjoy a boost in their value.
“We changed the land classification from ‘for farming’ to ‘for construction’ as early as 1979, so it has nothing to do with the high-speed rail station development project,” he said.
He also refuted allegations that he was able to repay NT$50 million (US$1.6 million) in debt within a year of taking office as county commissioner because he was involved in corruption.
He said he was able to clear his debts by selling land owned by his family.
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