President William Lai’s (賴清德) family home in New Taipei City has been turned into a miners’ museum and is to be open to the public for free from October, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) announced on Tuesday.
The property in Wanli District (萬里), as well as the nearby Liukeng coal mine and the ruins of its office, would form a cultural park aimed at educating the public about Taiwan’s mining history, the DPP told a news conference.
Reservations would be required and up to 20 people each on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays would be allowed to visit, the DPP said.
Photo: Chen Cheng-yu, Taipei Times
In addition to an exhibition of photographs documenting miners’ lives, visitors would also have access to guided tours and oral history activities, it said.
In a Facebook post later on Tuesday, Lai encouraged the public to visit the site, which he said would “foster mutual understanding and help unify Taiwan.”
The property was at the center of controversy during Lai’s campaign leading up to the presidential election on Jan. 13.
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party accused Lai’s family of illegally expanding the property and said that the building should have been torn down by the New Taipei City government years ago.
Lai said at the time that the house is one of hundreds of renovated miners’ units built decades ago in New Taipei City, where there used to be several mining districts.
However, mining companies closed and many of the original units were purchased and renovated for safety reasons, he said.
The units predate the Regional Planning Act (區域計畫法), which prohibits unauthorized expansion, he said.
Despite believing that the property does not contravene regulations, Lai said he was sorry that it became an issue during the presidential race and jeopardized the rights of residents living in similar units.
To commemorate the contributions made by miners to Taiwan’s economic growth in the past century, Lai late last year pledged that he would transfer the rights of the Wanli property to a charitable trust and prioritize turning it into a miners’ museum.
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