Absorbing the Council of Indigenous Peoples (CIP) into a larger entity would be a serious breach in the administration's promises to Aboriginals and a step backwards in ethnic policy, the CIP said Tuesday night in a statement.
The group was responding to potential amendments to the Organic Law of the Executive Yuan (
The CIP's contributions are such, the statement said, that the government should be considering elevating its status to a ministry, instead of its abolishment.
The amendments are being considered because of the passage of the Standard Organic Law of Central Government Agencies (
According to the statement, since the council's formation it has not only increased the govern-ment's ability to tackle Aboriginal issues, but has also fulfilled the wishes of Taiwan's indigenous people by giving them a real opportunity to participate in national policy-making.
If the council is abolished, Aboriginal issues will be marginalized and the political influence of Aborigines weakened, leading ultimately to assimilation for the ethnic group, the CIP said.
Throughout the statement, the CIP appealed to the government to remember President Chen Shui-bian's (
"If the government pushes through the amendments as planned ? President Chen's campaign promises will definitely fall short. There will be serious harm done to the administration's credibility," read the statement.
During a telephone interview, Aboriginal Legislator Walis Pelin (
"Combining the CIP with the Council of Hakka Affairs is a very strange idea and does not show respect for Aboriginal people," Walis said yesterday.
The CIP is already overburdened and underfunded, since everything related to Aboriginals, from land rights to education, is thrown at it, he said.
The Aboriginal people's position can only get worse if the CIP's duties end up being handled by a broader entity, Walis said.
The Ministry of Education (MOE) is to launch a new program to encourage international students to stay in Taiwan and explore job opportunities here after graduation, Deputy Minister of Education Yeh Ping-cheng (葉丙成) said on Friday. The government would provide full scholarships for international students to further their studies for two years in Taiwan, so those who want to pursue a master’s degree can consider applying for the program, he said. The fields included are science, technology, engineering, mathematics, semiconductors and finance, Yeh added. The program, called “Intense 2+2,” would also assist international students who completed the two years of further studies in
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) departed for Europe on Friday night, with planned stops in Lithuania and Denmark. Tsai arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Friday night, but did not speak to reporters before departing. Tsai wrote on social media later that the purpose of the trip was to reaffirm the commitment of Taiwanese to working with democratic allies to promote regional security and stability, upholding freedom and democracy, and defending their homeland. She also expressed hope that through joint efforts, Taiwan and Europe would continue to be partners building up economic resilience on the global stage. The former president was to first
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Monday called for greater cooperation between Taiwan, Lithuania and the EU to counter threats to information security, including attacks on undersea cables and other critical infrastructure. In a speech at Vilnius University in the Lithuanian capital, Tsai highlighted recent incidents in which vital undersea cables — essential for cross-border data transmission — were severed in the Taiwan Strait and the Baltic Sea over the past year. Taiwanese authorities suspect Chinese sabotage in the incidents near Taiwan’s waters, while EU leaders have said Russia is the likely culprit behind similar breaches in the Baltic. “Taiwan and our European
The Taipei District Court sentenced babysitters Liu Tsai-hsuan (劉彩萱) and Liu Jou-lin (劉若琳) to life and 18 years in prison respectively today for causing the death of a one-year-old boy in December 2023. The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said that Liu Tsai-hsuan was entrusted with the care of a one-year-old boy, nicknamed Kai Kai (剴剴), in August 2023 by the Child Welfare League Foundation. From Sept. 1 to Dec. 23 that year, she and her sister Liu Jou-lin allegedly committed acts of abuse against the boy, who was rushed to the hospital with severe injuries on Dec. 24, 2023, but did not
RSS