A number of civil groups and linguistic rights activists yesterday urged both Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidates to respect the right of students to receive an education in their mother tongue.
Although many languages such as Hoklo, Hakka and over 13 Aboriginal tongues exist in Taiwan, Mandarin is the only language of instruction in the education system, they said.
The groups, including the Taiwan Society, the Taiwan Romanization Association (TLH) and the Taiwan Hakka Teachers' Association, urged the two parties to support the enactment of a national language development law.
The groups also called on both parties to help push for the publication of textbooks in all subjects in local languages, to encourage teachers to use local languages in the classroom and to design a curriculum in which Taiwanese literature, Chinese literature and world literature would all be treated equally.
"For example, in Hakka communities, Hakka should be the language of the classroom, while in Hoklo communities, Hoklo should be the language of instruction," TLH chairman Ho Sin-han (何信瀚) said. "This is nothing exotic or new as that's the way it was decades ago before everyone was able to speak Mandarin."
In places where the ethnic composition is more diverse, such as Taipei, "Mandarin can be used," Ho said, while stressing that "we're not trying to wipe out any language, just trying to restore the linguistic situation to its original state."
The groups first visited the KMT's headquarters to present their demands to KMT presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou (
However, as Ma was not at the party headquarters, a KMT official took the petition from the demonstrators and said the KMT would respect their demands.
The activists then moved on to DPP presidential candidate Frank Hsieh's (謝長廷) campaign office, where they received a positive response.
"We'd certainly be happy to work with you on the mother tongue issue, as Hsieh has always put Taiwan's interests, culture and minority issues as his priorities," said Lee Ying-yuan (
Lee also promised to hold further meetings with the groups to discuss more concrete plans to build a more mother-tongue-friendly education system and society.
The groups' call yesterday came in the wake of a joint statement issued by nine pro-Taiwan independence civic groups on Thursday, calling for a reduction in the ratio of articles written in classical Chinese in senior high schools' "National Language" textbooks.
The statement lamented a decision made by the screening committee for national language textbooks to have articles written in classical Chinese comprise 45 percent of the textbooks, meaning that these articles will continue to dominate the educational platform in the nation's senior high schools.
Additional reporting by CNA
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it