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Taiwan Quick Take

■ Education
Hoklo software available
The Ministry of Education announced yesterday that it had posted a link on its Web site offering free downloads of its new Romanized computer input system for the Hoklo language (commonly known as Taiwanese). The software can be used on Windows, Mac and Linux operating systems, a ministry press release said, adding that installation and study guides were included in the downloading process. The system corrects flaws in the previous Romanization system for Hoklo, the ministry said.

■ Politics
The curse of Hello Kitty
The director of the Taipei County Government's civil affairs department was downgraded to senior executive officer after the department failed to finish a mascot Hello Kitty lantern for the county's lantern festival. Taipei County Deputy Commissioner Chen Wei-ren (陳威仁) announced the demotion of Huang Li-tzu (黃麗足) on Monday in the wake of the mounting complaints over the absence of the Hello Kitty lantern at the festival. Although the festival was sponsored by Sanrio Company and managed by a private public relations firm, Chen said that the department should take responsibility for the oversight. Chen said the company that was supposed to provide the mascot lantern had apologized to the government and that the festival would be held again next year. He added that the government would apply a tighter screening process in choosing sponsors.

■ Politics
Late candidate too late
Huang Kuang-kuo (黃光國), a psychology professor at National Taiwan University who intends to compete in the Chinese Nationalist Party's (KMT) presidential primary, yesterday called on the party to re-examine his qualifications and not exclude him from the race. Huang applied to join the KMT on Dec. 8 last year, and received party membership on Jan. 16. According to the KMT's regulations, however, a candidate must be a party member for at least four months before he or she can run for a public post. With the registration deadline for the primary falling on April 22, presidential hopefuls needed to become members before Dec. 22. Huang complained that the party had delayed his application process, and urged KMT Secretary-General Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) to re-examine the process. The KMT yesterday said it would ask its Taipei chapter to reconsider the situation.

■ Education
Schools hope for foreigners
A Taiwanese delegation consisting of international exchange chiefs from 25 universities is currently attending an international education show in Singapore, held under the auspices of the Asia-Pacific Association for International Education (APAIE), an official with the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The official said the 25 universities participating in the exhibition, which began yesterday and finishes on Friday on the sidelines of the 2007 APAIE Conference, hoped to attract more foreign students to pursue advanced studies in Taiwan. The delegation, led by Vice Minister of Education Lu Mu-lin (呂木琳), will take advantage of the show to expound on recent developments at the nation's universities as well as the competitive edge of its institutions of higher education and government measures aimed at encouraging foreigners to study Mandarin in Taiwan, the official said.

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