Legislators yesterday questioned President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) approach to restoring Aboriginal rights to promote transitional justice.
Non-partisan Solidarity Union Legislator May Chin (高金素梅), who is half Atayal, expressed frustration with Council of Indigenous Peoples Minister Icyang Parod, saying that a remark by Parod showed he was not serious about seeking transitional justice on behalf of Aborigines.
At an earlier meeting of the legislature’s Judiciary and Organic Laws and Statutes Committee, Parod had told Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) Wellington Ku (顧立雄) that he would help put together a truth and reconciliation commission under the Presidential Office to streamline efforts to restore land traditionally belonging to Aborigines and correct what he said were skewed historic perspectives about Aborigines.
Showing photographs of Parod leading protests against the government’s seizure of Aboriginal territories before taking on the council post, Chin said Parod was conflicted by his dual identity as an Amis activist and an official, and therefore not being entirely honest, as she questioned whether the proposed commission would have any administrative power.
“Do you think we Aborigines will mistake a job at the Presidential Office for real power? We are not stupid,” Chin said.
She questioned whether establishing the commission under the Presidential Office means the opinions of commission members from the agencies involved in pushing Aboriginal affairs would be neglected and, if so, asked why Tsai proposed the establishment of such a commission and the transitional justice bill when her white paper on Aboriginal policy would have sufficed.
Chin demanded that Parod provisionally announce the scope of traditional Aboriginal territories no later than the end of his term, to prevent excessive development plans such as the Miramar Resort.
Meanwhile, DPP Legislator Chou Chun-mi (周春米) asked Executive Yuan Secretary-General Chen Mei-ling (陳美伶) whether she thinks that establishing a commission under Tsai or an “Aboriginal land investigation commission” under the Control Yuan, as Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Cheng Tian-tsai (鄭天財) suggested, was a better option to restore Aboriginal land.
An undersea cable to Penghu County has been severed, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said today, with a Chinese-funded ship suspected of being responsible. It comes just a month after a Chinese ship was suspected of severing an undersea cable north of Keelung Harbor. The National Communications and Cyber Security Center received a report at 3:03am today from Chunghwa Telecom that the No. 3 cable from Taiwan to Penghu was severed 14.7km off the coast of Tainan, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said. The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) upon receiving a report from Chunghwa Telecom began to monitor the Togolese-flagged Hong Tai (宏泰)
A cat named Mikan (蜜柑) has brought in revenue of more than NT$10 million (US$305,390) for the Kaohsiung MRT last year. Mikan, born on April 4, 2020, was a stray cat before being adopted by personnel of Kaohsiung MRT’s Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station. Mikan was named after a Japanese term for mandarin orange due to his color and because he looks like an orange when curled up. He was named “station master” of Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station in September 2020, and has since become famous. With Kaohsiung MRT’s branding, along with the release of a set of cultural and creative products, station master Mikan
RISING TOURISM: A survey showed that tourist visits increased by 35 percent last year, while newly created attractions contributed almost half of the growth Changhua County’s Lukang Old Street (鹿港老街) and its surrounding historical area clinched first place among Taiwan’s most successful tourist attractions last year, while no location in eastern Taiwan achieved a spot in the top 20 list, the Tourism Administration said. The listing was created by the Tourism Administration’s Forward-looking Tourism Policy Research office. Last year, the Lukang Old Street and its surrounding area had 17.3 million visitors, more than the 16 million visitors for the Wenhua Road Night Market (文化路夜市) in Chiayi City and 14.5 million visitors at Tainan’s Anping (安平) historical area, it said. The Taipei 101 skyscraper and its environs —
Taiwan on Friday said a New Zealand hamburger restaurant has apologized for a racist remark to a Taiwanese customer after reports that it had first apologized to China sparked outrage in Taiwan. An image posted on Threads by a Taiwanese who ate at Fergburger in Queenstown showed that their receipt dated Sunday last week included the words “Ching Chang,” a racial slur. The Chinese Consulate-General in Christchurch in a statement on Thursday said it had received and accepted an apology from the restaurant over the incident. The comment triggered an online furor among Taiwanese who saw it as an insult to the
RSS