Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday said that, if elected in January’s presidential election, she would issue an official apology to the Aborigines on behalf of the government.
She added that she would also push forward reforms of Aboriginal policies on the basis of “equality, dignity and autonomy.”
Tsai, who is one-quarter Payuan on her grandmother’s side, criticized the government for having “failed to take into account the plight of urban Aborigines,” quoting the lyrics of Aboriginal singer Panai’s song Wandering as a commentary on Aboriginal policies.
“I bid my farewells to my home by the mountain, holding back the tears,” she said.
Tsai pledged that if elected she would “apologize to Aborigines on behalf of the government for the tears that they have shed.”
She said she has a “special emotional bond” with Aborigines because of her ancestry, adding that she had been “heartbroken” to hear from Aboriginal elders that they are losing their cultural heritage due to a widening generational gap and that the elderly remaining in their traditional communities lack proper care.
DPP legislative candidate Walis Pelin said the party’s Aboriginal policies would restore Aborigines’ rights to their ancestral lands and guarantee real autonomy, adding that the state must use its resources to preserve Aboriginal languages and cultures.
DPP legislative candidate Chen Ying (陳瑩) said the central government should accommodate Aborigines’ annual ritual feasts and holidays by providing longer vacations so that Aborigines can return home to practice their culture.
The coast guard drove away 567 Chinese boats and seized seven illegally operating in Taiwanese waters in the first six months of this year, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. They mostly operated near Kinmen and Penghu counties, resulting in fines totaling NT$1.7 million (US$52,440), it said. Three ships — two near Kinmen County and one near Penghu County — were detained in January for illegally crossing the border, while one ship each was detained near Kinmen in February and Penghu in March respectively, it said. The ship seized near Penghu in January was the Yun Ao (雲澳), detained by the CGA’s
The entire Alishan Forest Railway line is to reopen for the first time in 15 years on Saturday, with tickets to go on sale at 2pm today. The historic railway from Chiayi to Alishan (阿里山) is finally set to reopen after the completion of the final No. 42 tunnel, Alishan Forest Railway and Cultural Heritage Office Deputy Director-General Chou Heng-kai (周恆凱) said. It is to run on a new timetable, with four trains daily, he said. The 9am train is to depart from Chiayi Railway Station bound for Shizilu Station (十字路), while the 10am train departing from Chiayi is to go all the
Beijing’s recent provocative actions against the Philippines in the South China Sea were partly meant as a “dress rehearsal” for the invasion of Taiwan, former US deputy national security advisor Matt Pottinger said at a Heritage Foundation forum in Washington on Tuesday. Beijing’s blocking of a Philippine resupply mission on June 17 with unprecedented violence had multiple implications. “What they’re doing is trying to demonstrate that they can blockade, create a sense of futility and discredit the idea that the United States is going to help not only the Philippines, but by extension Taiwan,” Pottinger said. Pottinger was referring to a clash
FLU CONTINUES: Hospitals reported 101,091 visits for flu-like illnesses last week, while 68 severe cases and 16 flu-related deaths were also reported, the CDC said The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday reported 932 hospitalizations due to COVID-19 and 64 related deaths for last week, adding that the number of people who had contracted new SARS-CoV-2 subvariants KP.2 and LB.1 has increased. The number of people hospitalized due to COVID-19 increased from 815 in the previous week to 932 last week, while 90 percent of the 64 deceased were aged 65 or older, CDC physician Lin Yung-ching (林詠青) said. JN.1 was still the dominant variant among local and imported cases in the past four weeks, while KP.2 was the second-most common, Lin said. Cases with the LB.1 subvariant