The Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) four Aboriginal lawmakers and Non-Partisan Solidarity Union Legislator May Chin (高金素梅) turned down invitations to today’s ceremony in which President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) is to apologize on behalf of the government to the nation’s Aborigines.
More than 100 Aboriginal representatives and lawmakers have been invited to the event at the Presidential Office Building.
KMT Legislator Liao Kuo-tung (廖國棟), an Amis Aborigine, yesterday said that he would begin his tenure with the KMT caucus today, so it would be inappropriate for him to attend the event.
Liao said he has discussed the issue with KMT legislators Sra Kacaw, another Amis, Chien Tung-ming (簡東明), who is a Paiwan, and Kung Wen-chi (孔文吉), who is Sediq and Atayal, and they said they do not plan to attend the ceremony.
Liao said that since former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) has already apologized to Aborigines, Aboriginal communities are concerned about what Tsai will say.
Liao said that National Security Council senior adviser Yao Jen-to (姚人多) has said Tsai’s apology would be a “campaign move” and asked what the objective of the campaign would be, adding that Aborigines would not be happy if the apology has nothing concrete to offer.
Liao urged Tsai to discuss her stance on the return of Aboriginal lands and the management of natural resources.
New Power Party (NPP) Legislator Kawlo Iyun Pacidal, also an Amis, said she would join Aboriginal rights advocacy groups that are to demonstrate outside the Presidential Office Building.
NPP Executive Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) said he would attend the ceremony.
Pacidal said that she approves of Tsai’s attitude and supports many of Tsai’s Aboriginal policies, but since she had promised Aboriginal rights advocacy groups that she would join them, she decided to honor her pledge by attending a demonstration about elderly care issues for Aborigines.
Pacidal said she hopes Tsai would confirm that the government and Aborigines are in a “quasi-state-to-state relationship,” so that Aboriginal communities can become political entities.
She called on Tsai to urge the government to propose legislation on transitional justice for Aborigines and implement the Aboriginal Basic Act (原住民族基本法).
Several Aboriginal rights groups plan to demonstrate outside the Presidential Office Building today, with an alliance for elderly care for Aborigines planning to march from the Legislative Yuan to the Presidential Office Building to submit a petition, while another group is to march from Sijhou Aboriginal Community (溪洲部落) in New Taipei City’s Sindian District (新店) to the Presidential Office Building to demand justice for Aborigines.
Civil society groups yesterday protested outside the Legislative Yuan, decrying Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) efforts to pass three major bills that they said would seriously harm Taiwan’s democracy, and called to oust KMT caucus whip Fu Kun-chi (傅?萁). It was the second night of the three-day “Bluebird wintertime action” protests in Taipei, with organizers announcing that 8,000 people attended. Organized by Taiwan Citizen Front, the Economic Democracy Union (EDU) and a coalition of civil groups, about 6,000 people began a demonstration in front of KMT party headquarters in Taipei on Wednesday, organizers said. For the third day, the organizers asked people to assemble
POOR IMPLEMENTATION: Teachers welcomed the suspension, saying that the scheme disrupted school schedules, quality of learning and the milk market A policy to offer free milk to all school-age children nationwide is to be suspended next year due to multiple problems arising from implementation of the policy, the Executive Yuan announced yesterday. The policy was designed to increase the calcium intake of school-age children in Taiwan by drinking milk, as more than 80 percent drink less than 240ml per day. The recommended amount is 480ml. It was also implemented to help Taiwanese dairy farmers counter competition from fresh milk produced in New Zealand, which is to be imported to Taiwan tariff-free next year when the Agreement Between New Zealand and
A woman who allegedly spiked the food and drinks of an Australian man with rat poison, leaving him in intensive care, has been charged with attempted murder, the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said yesterday. The woman, identified by her surname Yang (楊), is accused of repeatedly poisoning Alex Shorey over the course of several months last year to prevent the Australian man from leaving Taiwan, prosecutors said in a statement. Shorey was evacuated back to Australia on May 3 last year after being admitted to intensive care in Taiwan. According to prosecutors, Yang put bromadiolone, a rodenticide that prevents blood from
A Japanese space rocket carrying a Taiwanese satellite blasted off yesterday, but was later seen spiraling downward in the distance as the company said the launch attempt had failed. It was the second attempt by the Japanese start-up Space One to become the country’s first private firm to put a satellite into orbit, after its first try in March ended in a mid-air explosion. This time, its solid-fuel Kairos rocket had been carrying five satellites, including one from the Taiwan Space Agency and others designed by Japanese students and corporate ventures. Spectators gathered near the company’s coastal Spaceport Kii launch pad in Japan’s
RSS