The rights of homemakers and immigrants are among the top priorities for two small political parties, one of which on Friday named its candidates for November’s local elections.
The Taiwan Obasang Political Equality Party — which takes its name from the Japanese word obasan, a term of endearment for an aunt or older woman, in common use in Taiwan — named 15 candidates, while a party for “new residents and immigrants” was launched in Chiayi City yesterday, although it has yet to decide whether it would put up candidates in the Nov. 26 elections.
Mothers and homemakers make up the core membership of the Obasang Party, which registered as a political entity three years ago.
Photo: CNA
At a rally outside the legislature in Taipei, party convener Chiang Min-jung (江敏榕) announced the names of its candidates for city councilor seats in Taipei, New Taipei City, Taoyuan, Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung, and for Hsinchu County’s Jhubei City (竹北).
Given the party’s membership is 90 percent female, it is unsurprising that 14 of its candidates are women, including Chang Shu-hui (張淑惠) and Ho Yu-jung (何語蓉), who are seeking seats in New Taipei City’s Banciao (板橋) and Sinjhuang (新莊) districts respectively.
Its only male candidate is Lien Shao-chieh (連紹傑), who is running for city councilor in the combined constituency of Taipei’s Datong (大同) and Zhongshan (中山) districts, Chiang said.
“This is our first slate of candidates,” she said. “We are working across Taiwan at the local community level, holding meetings, mobilizing support and raising funds. We will announce more candidates in the next few weeks, as more people are seeking councilor positions.”
Obasang’s core policies focus on children’s rights, creating a parent-child friendly society, environmental justice, and gender and political equality, she said.
At the rally, party members performed a skit, with a mother portraying the difficulties of taking public transportation with a baby in a stroller.
The performance was intended to show how city governments poorly design streets and public spaces, Chiang said.
The party was formed by parents of young children, single mothers and homemakers after attending local citizen empowerment and education workshops, it said in a statement.
They formed the “Obasang Alliance” to address their common concerns over public policies, a paternalistic education system, lack of family friendly public spaces, children’s rights and pollution, it said.
It said that the “political system was designed with barriers to citizen participation, the worst of which are money and personal networks.”
“Our stance is that extreme financial and social requirements for political participation are anti-democratic,” it said.
“Politics should not be a high wall that blocks regular citizens, who should have fair participation in politics... We feel that social obstacles for women who want to participate in politics are much higher than for men,” it added.
In Chiayi, a group of immigrants and “new residents,” announced the launch of the Happy People Party, saying they have not yet decided whether they would field candidates in this year’s elections.
The party’s Chinese name (台灣新住民黨) means “new residents of Taiwan,” referring to people who immigrated within the past two decades.
Happy People Chairwoman Mach Ngoc Tran (麥玉珍) is a Vietnamese immigrant who also heads the Taiwan Immigrant Association, and party Executive Director Zhang Hanling (張寒玲) is from China.
Both obtained citizenship through their Taiwanese husbands.
The party said it is focused on promoting social harmony, economic prosperity, multicultural identity and “clean politics.”
New residents, many of whom are from China or Southeast Asia, should be able to settle in Taiwan and live with dignity, freedom, equality, and justice for their family and society, the party leaders said.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by